The FBI said Thursday it now believes a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who drove a van in a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleanskilling 14 people, acted alone and was a member of the Islamic State terrorist group.
Investigators said they obtained surveillance footage showing the driver placing two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in coolers along the city’s famous Bourbon Street about two hours before driving around a police barricade and hitting pedestrians. He was then shot dead by police.
“It was an act of terrorism,” Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, told reporters. “It was a premeditated and evil act.”
U.S. President Joe Biden, who met with his Homeland Security team to discuss the attack, said Thursday he learned the driver had a remote detonator wired to detonate the devices he planted, citing investigators .
Law enforcement previously said they believed other people may have been involved in the attack, based on footage of individuals interacting with the IEDs on Bourbon Street. Investigators later determined those people were simply looking inside the coolers and had no knowledge of the driver’s intentions, Raia said.
“We do not believe anyone else was involved in this attack except Shamsud-Din Jabbar,” Raia said.
Investigators who searched the driver’s home and devices discovered that Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, had posted videos on social media hours before the attack. In the videos, he said he had joined the Islamic State before last summer and also provided a will, Raia said.
Receive national news daily
Get the day’s top news, politics, business and current affairs headlines delivered to your inbox once a day.
In another video, Raia said Jabbar explained that his initial intention was to harm his family and friends, but he feared that subsequent media coverage would not focus on the “war between believers and unbelievers.” .
The FBI believes Jabbar specifically targeted Bourbon Street, but it’s not yet clear why.
“He was 100% inspired by ISIS,” he added.
Authorities recovered a black Islamic State flag from the truck used in Wednesday’s attack. Raia said the two improvised explosive devices allegedly planted by Jabbar near the scene were the only ones that were functional, and that reports of additional active explosive devices inside or near the truck were later investigated. deemed inaccurate.
The FBI also said there appeared to be no connection between the New Orleans attack and an incident in Las Vegas the same day, in which a Tesla Cybertruck filled with gasoline cans and large fireworks mortars exploded in flames in front of the Trump International Hotel, just weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Authorities said among the 15 total deaths reported by the New Orleans coroner Wednesday evening was Jabbar, who was killed by police after opening fire on officers.
The rampage transformed festive Bourbon Street into a macabre scene of mutilated victims, bloody bodies and pedestrians fleeing for safety at nightclubs and restaurants. In addition to the deaths, dozens of people were injured. A college football playoff game at the nearby Superdome was postponed until Thursday.
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell said Bourbon Street was being reopened before the game, which would provide additional security. The FBI said there was no additional threat to the public.
“The city of New Orleans is resilient,” Cantrell told reporters.
A moment of silence was observed at the opening of the Sugar Bowl game at the city’s Superdome arena, followed by the national anthem.
Officials fanned out to execute search warrants and spent hours at a Houston-area home believed to be linked to the investigation. Raia said Jabbar rented the truck used in the Houston attack Tuesday and drove it to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve.
As of Thursday morning, no other arrests had been reported.
Local officials, meanwhile, faced more questions about security protocols in place in the city before the attack, the latest example of a vehicle being used as a weapon to carry out mass violence.
Jabbar drove a rented van onto a sidewalk, going around a police car positioned to block vehicle traffic, authorities said. A barrier system intended to prevent vehicle attacks was being repaired ahead of the Super Bowl, which New Orleans is scheduled to host next month.
The driver “failed” the safety measures put in place to protect pedestrians and was “determined to create the carnage and damage he caused,” the New Orleans police commissioner said Wednesday. Anne Kirkpatrick.
Public records show Jabbar worked in real estate in Houston. In a promotional video released four years ago, Jabbar described himself as being born and raised in Beaumont, a town about 80 miles east of Houston.
Jabbar was in the regular Army from March 2007 to January 2015, then in the reserves from January 2015 to July 2020, an Army spokesperson said. He was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010 and held the rank of staff sergeant at the end of his service.
FBI officials have repeatedly warned of an increased international terrorist threat due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The agency thwarted other potential attacks last year, including in October when it arrested an Afghan man in Oklahoma for an alleged Election Day plot targeting large crowds.
Meanwhile, authorities in other US cities said they had increased security, including at Trump Tower and Times Square in New York, adding that there was no immediate threat.
In Washington, police also said they had increased their presence as the capital prepares for three major events this month: the Jan. 6 congressional certification of Trump’s presidential election victory, state funeral of former US President Jimmy Carter on January 9, and the state funeral of Trump. Inauguration on January 20.
—With files from Associated Press and Reuters
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.