Previously, the FBI identified the New Orleans truck ramming attacker as Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, a US-born citizen from Texas. Speculations led authorities to consider that he may not have acted alone and possibly worked with others to carry out the attack. However, the FBI has now dispelled those claims, saying he indeed acted alone. Additionally, their investigation along the “act of terror” path has proved to be accurate as officials have labelled the New Year’s Day attack that killed 15 people on Bourbon Street an “act of terrorism.”
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Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counter-terrorism division, said, “It was premeditated and an evil act.” An Islamic State flag – black with white lettering – was recovered from the back of the truck he reportedly rented through the car rental app, Turo.
ISIS-inspired New Orleans truck attacker suspect Shamsud Din Jabbar
Circling back to his digital footprint, authorities found that the pickup truck driver posted videos to social media hours before he acted on his horrifying plan. The FBI president firmly established that Jabbar was inspired by the Islamic State group and harboured a desire to kill, according to AP News. As of Wednesday, the FBI has also obtained visual proof of Shamsud Din Jabbar placing explosive devices where they were eventually discovered. He is believed to have planted two homemade bombs.
The suspected terrorist’s brother, Abdur Jabbar, also told the New York Times that even though he was “a sweetheart really, a nice guy, a friend, really smart, caring,” his worldview potentially switched sides due to “some type of radicalisation, not religion.”
In one of the videos shared on the suspect’s Facebook page, he “pledged allegiance to ISIS.” He even went as far as claiming that he would murder his family.
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No link between the New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks
The 42-year-old suspect who was ultimately fatally shot during a firefight with officers at the scene was a US Army veteran, who spent time at Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina. Even though the Las Vegas Tesla Cybertruck explosion suspect, Matthew Livelsberger, was also stationed at the same base, AP reported that their assignments didn’t overlap. As a result, “no definitive link” between the two attacks that shook the country on New Year’s Day has been found.
