The FBI have identified the suspect in the New Year’s Day New Orleans terrorist attack that killed 15 people and injured nearly 40 more early on Wednesday morning. The victims were taken to five different hospitals for treatment.
The FBI said in a statement that the suspect has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an American residing Texas, who was driving a rented pickup truck loaded with weapons when he slammed the pickup truck into pedestrians at the crowded and iconic French Quarter.
The FBI said: “he [suspect] was driving a Ford pickup truck, which appears to have been rented, and we are working to confirm how the subject came into possession of the vehicle.” Police said Jabbar drove around established barricades and drove at a high rate of speed into the heart of the French Quarter at Bourbon and Canal streets; he was shot dead after he exited his vehicle and opened fire at police; two NOPD officers were struck and injured in the exchange, both of whom were transported via ambulance o a local hospital and were listed in stable condition.
The FBI said that the flag of the Islamic State terror organization was located in the vehicle and that it is “working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations” and that aside from the flag, weapons and “a potential IED” were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter: “the FBI’s special agent bomb technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.”
Althea Duncan, assistant special agent in charge of FBI New Orleans field office, later said on Wednesday during a press conference that investigators do not believe Jabbar acted alone: “We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible. We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associated. That’s why we need the public’s help. We are asking if anybody had any interaction with Shamsud-Din Jabbar in the last 72 hours that you contact us.”
New Orleans police have reviewed surveillance video that appears to show several people planting potential explosive devices in advance of the vehicle attack, which led them to believe he was not “solely responsible.” Investigators are urgently working to identify the individuals who were seen on camera and take them into custody.
The White House said President Joe Biden called New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell Wednesday morning “to offer full federal support,” and “has been briefed on the latest developments by senior FBI and [Department of Homeland Security] leadership and his homeland security team, and he will continue to be briefed on this incident throughout the day.”
Biden said a separate statement: “I am grateful for the brave and swift response of local law enforcement in preventing even greater death and injury. I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind.”
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