The FBI says it believes the suspect in the New Year’s Day truck ramming attack in New Orleans that killed at least 14 people had acted alone and was inspired by the Islamic State terror group.
Officials had previously said they were looking into the possibility that the suspect had coordinated with others.
FBI officials briefed reporters Thursday on the latest in the probe into the “act of terrorism” in which the suspect, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, crashed a pickup truck into a crowd and opened fire in the city’s popular Bourbon Street.
Based on hundreds of interviews and reviews of the attacker’s calls, social media accounts and electronic devices, “We’re confident, at this point, that there are no accomplices,” Christopher Raia of the FBI’s counterterrorism division said Thursday in a news conference.
Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, was killed in a shootout with police. He served in the U.S. Army and later served in the Army Reserve until a few years ago.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the attack would not defeat New Orleans.
“New Orleans is a city of tremendous spirit. You can’t keep it down,” Biden said in remarks Thursday afternoon. “People of New Orleans are sending an unmistakable message. They will not let this attack or the attacker’s deluded ideology overcome us.”
In photos: New Orleans' French Quarter attack on New Year's Day
Officials reopened Bourbon Street on Thursday afternoon. The attack occurred on Wednesday at 3:15 a.m.
On Tuesday evening, just hours before committing the attack, Jabbar posted five videos to his Facebook account, apparently addressed to his family and recorded while he was driving, in which he aligned himself with the Islamic State terror group. The FBI said an IS flag was also found in the vehicle after the attack.
“This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act,” Raia said.
Jabbar had originally planned to hurt his relatives and friends, but worried about how that would be interpreted by the media, Raia said.
“He was 100 percent inspired by ISIS,” he said.
Biden said the United States would continue to target the Islamic State.
“We’re going to relentlessly pursue ISIS and other terrorist organizations where they are, and they’ll find no safe harbor here,” Biden said in his Thursday afternoon remarks.
Early morning attack
The attack occurred at the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets in the city's lively French Quarter. The historic tourist destination filled with bars and music is also known for its large New Year's Eve celebrations.
After the vehicle crashed, the driver got out of the car and opened fire on responding officers, police said. Officers returned fire, killing the suspect, according to police. Two officers were wounded but are in stable condition, police said.
“This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters at a press conference earlier Wednesday.
President-elect Donald Trump condemned the attack in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Our hearts are with all the innocent victims and their loved ones. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!” he said.
In the same post, Trump also falsely suggested that the suspect was an immigrant.
Video taken by an onlooker at the scene of the attack shows at least two twisted bodies lying in the street, with one of them in what appears to be a pool of blood. A bystander is seen kneeling over one of the bodies.
“For those people who don’t believe in objective evil, all you have to do is look at what happened in our city early this morning,” U.S. Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said. “If this doesn’t trigger the gag reflex of every American, every fair-minded American, I’ll be very surprised.”
Investigators say they have found no link between the New Orleans attack and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Raia said. But he cautioned that investigators have not ruled out anything.
In that incident, the man who was driving the car shot himself in the head immediately before the vehicle was engulfed by fire, the authorities said on Thursday.
Speaking Thursday afternoon, Biden said investigators were continuing to look into whether there was any connection between the New Orleans attack and Las Vegas explosion.
“As of now, I’ve just been briefed, they have not found any evidence of such a connection,” Biden said, adding that he directed his team to accelerate investigations into both incidents.
“I’ll continue to provide updates on New Orleans and Las Vegas as the facts develop,” Biden said.
VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and VOA reporter Liam Scott contributed to this report. Some information in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
