Topline
President Joe Biden said Thursday the truck belonging to the suspect involved in the deadly New Orleans terrorist attack Wednesday contained a remote detonator for unused explosives planted a few hours before the attack, which he said the suspect planted himself.
Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies work the scene on Bourbon Street on Jan. 1, 2025.
Getty Images
Key Facts
Biden said he was briefed by the FBI, which informed him the suspect’s truck contained a remote detonator to set off explosives planted within two ice chests in the French Quarter hours before the truck attack (the explosives were later identified and rendered safe by authorities).
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick on Thursday afternoon confirmed Bourbon Street had been reopened after the FBI determined Shamsud-Din Jabbar acted alone in ramming a truck into the New Years crowds in the city’s French Quarter.
Biden reiterated that “as of now … we have no information that anyone else was involved in the attack,” adding that “we’ve established the attacker was the same person who planted those explosives in those ice coolers.”
Barriers, which were not activated ahead of the attack, have been placed on the street and sidewalk near Bourbon Street to stop or slow anyone who tries to breach them.
The FBI on Thursday does “not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar,” Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said in a press conference Thursday, a reversal after the FBI previously said the suspect did not act alone.
A day earlier, FBI officials said they did not believe Jabbar—a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas—was “solely responsible” for the attack, and news reports suggested police were looking into whether other people helped place improvised explosive devices on Bourbon Street, but Raia said the FBI now believes Jabbar placed the IEDs himself.
Raia also said there is “no definitive link” between the New Orleans attack and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck at the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas hours later.
Law enforcement agencies say Jabbar drove a rented Ford F-150 pickup truck carrying an ISIS flag into the crowd on Bourbon Street—located in the city’s French Quarter—at around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday and then opened fire at police before he was killed in an ensuing gunfight.
At least 14 “innocent victims” are dead, according to Raia, after the New Orleans coroner said Wednesday the death toll stood at 15—and some 35 people have been reported injured, including two police officers who were shot and are in stable condition.
Hours before the attack, Raia says Jabbar posted a series of videos to Facebook claiming he joined ISIS before this summer, and suggesting he initially planned to hurt his family but was worried news stories wouldn’t emphasize the “war between the believers and the disbelievers.”
The FBI recovered two improvised explosive devices near the scene, and surveillance tape shows they were placed by Jabbar, according to Raia.
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Who Is Shamsud-Din Jabbar?
The FBI described Jabbar as a U.S.-born citizen who was honorably discharged from the Army. In 2022 divorce documents obtained by the Times, Jabbar said he made roughly $120,000 a year at Deloitte, but listed late home payments and credit card debt. He had two minor arrests, in 2002 for misdemeanor theft and in 2005 for driving with an invalid license. More information on Jabbar is available here.
What Do We Know About The Victims?
Seven people have been identified by friends or family as among those killed, though law enforcement officials have not released any victim identities and have said they will wait until autopsies are completed and next of kin can be notified. Among those kiled include former Princeton Univeristy football player Tiger Bech, University of Alabama freshman Kareen Badawi and 25-year-old Matthew Tenedorio. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday that at least 10 more people are “clinging to life” in local hospitals.
Will The Sugar Bowl Be Affected?
The annual Sugar Bowl college football game between the University of Georgia and the University of Notre Dame, which was scheduled to take place Wednesday evening, kicked off Thursday afternoon. The event is expected to draw tens of thousands of fans from across the country. Murrill told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning she believed the game should be delayed at least another day as the investigation continues and out of the “respect we owe to the dead and to their families.”
Why Are Police Investigating A House Fire And An Airbnb Rental?
Officials believe improvised explosive devices may have been assembled at an Airbnb rental in New Orleans, Murrill told NBC on Wednesday. She added a house fire early Wednesday appears to be connected to the incident.
Where Else Is The Investigation Taking Place?
Beyond New Orleans, the FBI says it is “conducting law enforcement activity” in north Houston. The agency told CNN late Wednesday it is conducting a “court-authorized search of a location” in the city apparently linked to Jabbar, and the Times reports investigators visited Jabbar’s ex-wife’s Houston home.
Why Didn’t Barriers Protect Bourbon Street?
A set of removable metal bollards designed to prevent cars from driving onto Bourbon Street were not up during the attack, Cantrell confirmed Wednesday afternoon. The mayor said the city is in the process of replacing the bollards—which were first installed over a decade ago—before New Orleans hosts the Super Bowl next month, and they weren’t up late Tuesday because the project is “nearing completion.” Kirkpatrick noted the street was still blocked by a police car instead of metal bollards, but the suspect drove onto the sidewalk to get around the vehicle: “We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it.” However, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said, “we recognize we’ve got a problem here,” and vowed that finding a solution is a “top priority.”
How Does The Fbi Define A Terrorist Incident?
In the hours following the attack, the was some initial confusion about whether law enforcement was investigating it as a terrorist incident, as the New Orleans mayor and an FBI special agent gave contradicting answers. Mayor LaToya Cantrell immediately called it a terrorist attack, while the FBI’s Alethea Duncan said, “this is not a terrorist event.” However, in a follow-up statement the FBI confirmed that the attack was being probed “as an act of terrorism.” The initial difference is likely due to the FBI having specific criteria for labeling an incident as an “act of terrorism.” The agency defines international terrorism as “Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups who are inspired by, or associated with, designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations.” Domestic terrorism involves similar acts committed by “individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.” On its website, the agency notes that it is “bound by guidelines issued by the attorney general that establish a consistent policy” on when a terror investigation may be initiated. The FBI says its counterterrorism investigations “focus on the unlawful activity of the group, not the ideological orientation of its members.”
What Has Trump Said About The Attack?
President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday and Thursday the attack confirmed his claims about a rise in crime in the United States, and connected the attack to immigration, despite law enforcement officials reporting Jabbar is a U.S.-born citizen from Texas. Trump said Wednesday, “criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country,” and on Thursday attempted to connect the attack to Biden’s border policies. “I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe,” he wrote Thursday. “That time has come, only worse than ever imagined.”
Is The New Orleans Attack Related To The Las Vegas Cybertruck Explosion?
Raia said there’s no clear link. Hours after the attack in New Orleans, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. The explosion is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, multiple news outlets have reported, though law enforcement says it’s not clear what caused the explosion or whether it was a terrorist incident. Biden said federal officials are looking into any possible connections but don’t have anything to report so far, and Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said his department is “not ruling anything out yet.”
Were The New Orleans And Las Vegas Trucks Both Rented With Turo?
The Ford allegedly used in New Orleans and the Tesla that exploded in Las Vegas were both rented through Turo, a peer-to-peer online platform that car owners can use to rent out their vehicles to others, the company told multiple news outlets. Turo said it does “not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.”
Further Reading
New Orleans Truck Attack Suspect Identified By FBI—Here’s What We Know About Him (Forbes)
7 New Orleans Attack Victims Identified By Families—Here’s What We Know So Far (Forbes)