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By Brian Thevenot and Ned Randolph
NEW ORLEANS: The US Army veteran who drove a truck into a crowd at a New Orleans memorial has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. .
The suspect, who the FBI said was shot dead at the scene after shooting at police, was identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan who had served in Afghanistan.
He drove from Houston to New Orleans on Dec. 31. Between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m. the morning of the attack, he posted five videos on Facebook (NASDAQ: ) in which he said he supported the Islamic State. A militant group with fighters in Iraq and Syria, the FBI said.
The carnage in New Orleans’ popular Bourbon Street nightlife district during the holiday led to an unsettled start to the new year in the US, with law enforcement officials across the country promising increased security for the upcoming public events.
Jabbar said in the original video that he had previously planned to harm his family and friends, but he was concerned that media coverage would “focus on the war between believers and unbelievers,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raya said in a press release. .
Jabbar said in the videos that he had joined IS before last summer and made his final confession, Raya said.
“This was an act of terror,” Raya said. It was a premeditated and evil act. The FBI was still investigating Jabbar’s “path to radicalization,” but evidence reviewed so far showed he was clearly motivated by ISIS, Raia said.
US House of Representatives lawmakers were told by David Scott, assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, that Jabbar was not on any government surveillance list and that the bureau had found no evidence that he was directed by any foreign individual or group.
Surveillance video footage showed Jabbar placing two improvised explosive devices in coolers hours before the attack at the intersections of Bourbon Street, a popular tourist destination in New Orleans, Raia said. Both were found safe at the scene.
Other people were seen on video looking at the coolers, which investigators now believe were curious passers-by and not accomplices.
New Orleans officials said the Sugar Bowl college football game, scheduled for Wednesday in a New Year’s tradition, will be held Thursday afternoon and Bourbon Street will be open to the public soon after. The city is gearing up for a week of Mardi Gras celebrations that begin Jan. 6 and will host the National Football League’s Super Bowl next month, with city officials promising security for the crowded event.
The FBI said a Tesla (NASDAQ: ) Cybertruck packed with gasoline cans and large firework mortars burst into flames outside Trump International, rented on the same day as the New Orleans attack and the Las Vegas attack. hotel in Las Vegas, weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20. A Tesla driver who is an active duty soldier in the US military has shot himself. Las Vegas police said minutes before the explosion.
Among the injured in New Orleans were two police officers who were shot by the suspect in the attack, which took place just three hours apart in the historic French Quarter. At least 14 people and the suspect were killed, the FBI said, and 35 people were injured.
Among the victims were a mother of a 4-year-old who moved into a new apartment after winning a promotion at work, a New York finance worker and a talented student athlete visiting for the holidays, and an 18-year-old nurse from Mississippi.
Witnesses described a shocking situation.
“There were people everywhere,” Kimberly Strickland of Mobile, Alabama, said in an interview. “You hear this roar and the revving of the engine and this huge impact and then the crowd screaming and the wreckage – just metal – the sound of metal and bodies breaking.”
In December, a review by law enforcement officials in Louisiana and New Orleans found there was no “credible threat” to New Year’s Eve celebrations in the city.
Authorities in other US cities, including Trump Tower and Times Square in New York City, said they have stepped up security and said there was no immediate threat.
Police in Washington also said they have increased their presence as the capital prepares to host three major events this month: Trump’s January 6 presidential victory in Congress, former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral on January 9 and Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
Flag of the Islamic State
An ISIS flag was found on the trailer of the truck used in the New Orleans attack, the FBI said.
US President Joe Biden condemned the act, which he described as “outrageous”.
“We will continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS and other terrorist organizations, and they will find no safe harbor here,” Biden said, referring to the Islamic State.
Federal authorities are investigating an early Wednesday morning fire at a home rented through Airbnb in the St. Roque neighborhood of New Orleans. Jabbar was believed to be staying at that address, and investigators were examining two laptops found there linked to Jabbar, Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Joshua Jackson told reporters. They were also examining three mobile phones linked to Jabbar.
Jackson said the fire appears to have started after Jabbar was killed, but authorities are investigating whether it was ignited by a device on a timer.
According to public reports, Jabbar worked in real estate in Beaumont, about 80 miles (130 km) east of Houston.
Jabbar was in the U.S. Army from March 2007 to January 2015 and in the Army Reserve from January 2015 to July 2020, an Army spokesman said. He was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010 and was promoted to Staff Sergeant at the end of the service.
ISIS is a Muslim militant group that once claimed millions of lives in Iraq and Syria until it was defeated by a series of military operations led by the US-led coalition. Despite a weakened sector, IS continues to recruit supporters online, experts say.
