New Orleans attacked in ‘act of terrorism’ unrelated to Tesla explosion, FBI says

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The New Year’s Eve attack in New Orleans was an “act of terrorism” unrelated to the Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas hours later, according to an FBI review.

While to investigation New Orleans attack The FBI, meanwhile, says it believes US Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar acted alone.

“It was an act. Terrorism. It was a premeditated and malicious act,” Deputy Assistant FBI Director Christopher Raya said on Thursday. “We are confident that there are no accomplices at this time.”

“At this point, there is no definite connection between the attack here in New Orleans and the attack in Las Vegas,” Raya added, though he said the FBI would not rule anything out.

At least 14 people were killed and 35 injured when a man drove a pickup truck into New Orleans in the New Year’s Eve hours.

An ISIS flag was found on the truck and the agency is investigating the suspect’s ties to terrorist organizations, the FBI said. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police, taking the death toll to 15.

Two “functional” improvised explosive devices were later found in freezers in the heart of the city’s historic French Quarter, Raia said. He added that both IEDs were “secured” at the site.

Three phones and two laptops linked to Jabbar were recovered and authorities are investigating whether they could be leads.

Investigators say they are beginning to piece together a timeline for the attack. Jabbar picked up a rented Ford F-150 pickup truck in Houston, Texas, on December 30 and drove east to New Orleans the next day.

In Facebook videos posted along the way, Jabbar said he supported ISIS and said he had initially planned to target family and friends, but was “concerned the news headlines would not focus on the battle between believers and infidels.”

The FBI said the attacker joined ISIS over the summer and offered a confession.

Hours after the New Orleans attack, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. President Joe Biden said Wednesday night that authorities are investigating whether it is connected to the shooting in New Orleans.

Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas native, was a veteran of the United States Army and worked at the consulting firm Deloitte. He had a “staff-level role” starting in 2021, the company said Thursday.

“We are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and will do everything we can to assist the authorities in their investigation,” he added.

Jabbar served in the Army as a human resources and information technology specialist between 2007 and 2020 and was deployed to Afghanistan between February 2009 and January 2010.

The military also confirmed that the driver of the cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas, Matthew Alan Levelsberger, was a serving American soldier. At the time of his death, the master sergeant was assigned to the US Army Special Operations Command and was on authorized leave.

Levelsberger began his military career in 2006 and served on active duty until 2011, serving for about a year before transferring to the National Guard. After a brief stint in the Army Reserves, he returned to active duty in late 2012.

The FBI said Thursday it is searching a residence in Colorado Springs it believes is connected to the Las Vegas shooting.

Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington