New Orleans killer acted alone, professed loyalty to ISIS, says FBI
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Fifteen people were killed in the Jan 1 carnage in New Orleans' French Quarter district, including attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was shot by police.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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NEW ORLEANS - A US army veteran motivated by loyalty to ISIS likely acted alone when he killed and injured dozens in a truck attack
Despite initial concerns that Shamsud-Din Jabbar had accomplices still on the run, preliminary investigations show he likely was alone, FBI deputy assistant director Christopher Raia said. “We do not assess at this point that anyone else was involved,” he added.
However, new evidence emerged detailing the extent of the US citizen’s loyalty to ISIS and his plans to cause mayhem in the attack, which killed 14 and injured more than 30 in the French Quarter district, ending only after he was shot by police.
“He was 100 per cent inspired by ISIS,” Mr Raia said.
Just before the attack, in which 42-year-old Jabbar slammed a rented Ford F-150 pickup into the crowd, he “posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS”, Mr Raia said.
A black ISIS flag was affixed to a pole on the back of his vehicle.
In one video, Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers”.
Mr Raia said Jabbar had planted two homemade bombs in drink coolers in French Quarter streets.
The bombs were viable – and, according to President Joe Biden, had remote detonators – but were made safe in time, Mr Raia added.
He clarified that the total death toll of 15 from the Jan 1 carnage included 14 victims and Jabbar himself, who died after wounding two police officers in an exchange of gunfire.
Vegas incident likely separate
The New Orleans attack coincided with a high-profile incident in Las Vegas
In the bizarre incident, a US special forces soldier shot himself inside the Tesla, which was then engulfed in flames after a crude homemade bomb went off inside the car.
Law enforcement in Las Vegas said the decorated soldier, Matthew Livelsberger, apparently died by suicide.
However, the motive for the subsequent blast and the choice of the Trump-linked building remained unknown.
In an echo of the New Orleans incident, the vehicles in both cases had been rented through car-sharing app Turo.
FBI special agent Spencer Evans said the authorities were still open to a potential terrorism motive, but there was nothing “definitively” pointing to any ideology.
Mr Raia said: “At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas.”
Clean-up on Bourbon Street
In New Orleans’ French Quarter, the heart of the area’s famous nightlife – Bourbon Street – was freshly scrubbed and open for business.
After a 24-hour delay due to the violence, the city was gearing up to stage the major Sugar Bowl college football game in its Superdome. The stadium will also host the National Football League’s Super Bowl championship game in February.
“New Orleans is a city of tremendous spirit. You can’t keep it down. You really can’t. And we’re seeing that today. The Sugar Bowl is back on,” Mr Biden said at the White House.
Trump rant
The terrifying incident came three weeks before Trump takes over as president.
The Republican has used the mayhem to push his anti-immigrant agenda, despite the slain killer being a US-born citizen.
Overnight, Trump again took to social media to link the attack to “OPEN BORDERS”.
In a lengthy rant, he berated law enforcement bodies for “attacking their political opponent, ME, rather than focusing on protecting Americans from the outside and inside violent SCUM”.
Claiming “the USA is breaking down”, Trump said, without giving details, that “the CIA must get involved”.
Radicalisation
Police say Jabbar drove at high speed into the crowd, intent on causing maximum casualties.
“There were bodies and blood and all the trash,” bystander Zion Parsons told CNN. “People were terrified, running, screaming.”
Tourist Ethan Ayersman, 20, told AFP: “It was just scary, I cried my eyes out, honestly.”
The Pentagon said Jabbar served in the army
He was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 until January 2010, an army spokesperson said.
Mr Raia said the growing focus now is on how Jabbar became radicalised.
“That’s the stuff in the coming days, as far as that path to radicalisation, that we’re really going to be digging into and making a priority of,” he said. AFP
