The New Orleans attack is an ‘act of terrorism’ unrelated to the Tesla explosion, the FBI says
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The New Year’s Eve attack in New Orleans was an “act of terrorism” unrelated to the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in Las Vegas just hours later, according to FBI estimates.
While the investigation continues, Fr Attack of New Orleans is in its early stages, the FBI said it believes the alleged perpetrator, U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, acted alone.
“This was an act terrorism. It was a premeditated and evil act,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said Thursday. “We are confident at this point that there are no accomplices. [sic].”
Raia added that “at this point there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” although he said the FBI is not ruling anything out.
Fourteen people were killed and 35 injured when a man drove a pickup truck into a large crowd and opened fire in the heart of New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
The FBI said an Islamic State flag was found on the truck and that the agency is investigating the suspect’s potential ties to terrorist organizations. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with police, bringing the death toll to 15.
Two “functional” improvised explosive devices were later found in cold stores in the heart of the city’s historic French Quarter, Raia said. He added that both IEDs were “defused” at the scene.
Three phones and two laptops linked to Jabbar were recovered following searches and are being examined by authorities for potential leads.
Investigators said they were beginning to piece together the timeline of the attack. Jabbar picked up a rented Ford F-150 pickup truck in Houston, Texas, on Dec. 30, then drove east to New Orleans the next day.
In Facebook videos posted along the way, Jabbar announced his support for Isis and said he had originally planned to target family and friends but “was concerned that the headlines would not focus on the war between believers and non-believers,” Raia said.
The FBI added that the attacker claimed to have joined Isis over the summer and made a will.
Just 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 were investigating whether it was connected to the New Orleans attack.
Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, was a U.S. Army veteran who worked at consulting firm Deloitte, where he held a “staff-level role” since 2021, the company said Thursday.
“We are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing everything we can to assist the authorities in their investigation,” it added.
The military said Jabbar served as a human resources and information technology specialist between 2007 and 2020. He 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 Livelsberger, was a US soldier. At the time of his death, the master sergeant was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and was on authorized leave.
Livelsberger began his military career in 2006 and served on active duty until 2011 before transferring to the National Guard, where he served for about a year. After a short service in the reserve, he rejoined the active service at the end of 2012.
The FBI said Thursday it is searching a Colorado Springs residence it believes is connected to the Las Vegas blast.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington
