Regulation enforcement companies are increasing their investigation into the New 12 months’s ramming assault on New Orleans‘ Bourbon Avenue which killed at the least 15 individuals and injured dozens extra early Wednesday.
Officers mentioned an Army veteran — identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42 — was “hell-bent” on killing as many individuals as potential. The suspect drove a pickup truck round a parked police automobile serving as a barricade and plowed into crowds of revelers, officers mentioned.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick mentioned safety bollards weren’t working on the time as a result of they had been within the means of being changed for the upcoming Tremendous Bowl. She confirmed that the suspect drove on the sidewalk to get round a police automobile blocking the intersection.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry inspects Bourbon Avenue within the the French Quarter on January 2, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Andrew Caballero-reynolds/AFP through Getty Photos
Regulation enforcement members work on the web site the place individuals had been killed by a person driving a truck in an assault throughout New 12 months’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 2, 2025.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
The suspect mowed down dozens of individuals over a three-block stretch on the world-famous thoroughfare whereas firing into the gang, police mentioned.
The alleged attacker then exited the broken automobile armed with an assault rifle and opened fireplace on cops, legislation enforcement officers mentioned. Jabbar was additionally armed with a handgun, sources advised ABC Information.
Officers returned fireplace, killing Jabbar, a U.S.-born citizen from Texas, sources mentioned. At the least two officers had been injured, one by gunfire and the opposite when the officer was pinned by the truck, authorities mentioned.
Investigators work the scene after an individual drove a automobile right into a crowd killing a number of, earlier on Canal and Bourbon Avenue in New Orleans, Jan. 1, 2025.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Investigators don’t consider Jabbar acted alone, mentioned Althea Duncan, assistant particular agent in command of the FBI in New Orleans.
“We don’t consider that Jabbar was solely accountable,” Duncan mentioned at a information convention Wednesday. “We’re aggressively working down each lead, together with these of his recognized associates. That is why we’d like the general public’s assist. We’re asking if anyone had any interplay with Shamsud-Din Jabbar within the final 72 hours that you just contact us.”
Law enforcement officials sit on horses close to the positioning the place individuals had been killed by a person driving a truck in an assault throughout New 12 months’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Jan. 1, 2025.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Duncan additionally mentioned improvised explosives gadgets and different weapons had been discovered contained in the pickup truck used within the assault. She mentioned two further IEDs had been found within the French Quarter and rendered secure.
The IEDs present in and across the scene on Bourbon Avenue had been apparently decided to be viable, and investigators had been on the lookout for extra within the metropolis’s French Quarter, a number of legislation enforcement sources advised ABC Information.
Regulation enforcement officers from a number of companies work the scene on Bourbon Avenue after an individual allegedly drove into the gang within the early morning hours of New 12 months’s Day on January 1, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Michael Democker/Getty Photos
The FBI mentioned two gadgets had been discovered and rendered secure. Crude pipe bombs full of coils and nails had been discovered on the scene together with a grenade, sources mentioned.
New Orleans police have reviewed surveillance video that seems to indicate a number of individuals planting potential explosive gadgets upfront of the automobile assault, which led them to consider the suspect didn’t act alone, sources mentioned. Investigators mentioned they had been urgently working to determine the people who had been seen on digicam and to take them into custody.
Authorities have performed “plenty of court docket approved search warrants in New Orleans and different states,” the FBI’s New Orleans subject workplace mentioned.
A house in Houston was amongst these searched. The FBI in Houston mentioned “there is no such thing as a menace to residents in that space.”
Members of the FBI and New Orleans Police work the scene on Bourbon Avenue after an individual allegedly drove right into a crowd within the early morning hours of New 12 months’s Day on January 1, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Chris Graythen/Getty Photos
President Joe Biden mentioned that the FBI advised him that “mere hours earlier than the assault, [Jabbar] posted movies on social media indicating that he is impressed by ISIS, expressing a need to kill.”
Biden mentioned that the suspect served within the “Military on lively obligation for a few years. He additionally served within the Military Reserve, till just a few years in the past.”
Regulation enforcement automobiles and other people stand close to the realm close to the scene the place a automobile drove right into a crowd throughout New 12 months’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Jan. 1, 2025.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
The FBI is learning the movies Biden referenced in his remarks, which the suspect seems to have recorded whereas driving from Texas to Louisiana, legislation enforcement sources confirmed to ABC Information.
The movies are darkish so the suspect is not seen however he will be heard speaking about his divorce and a need to kill members of his household earlier than finally deciding to hold out the assault on Bourbon Avenue, based on the legislation enforcement sources.
The suspect can be heard speaking about ISIS, the sources mentioned.
Undated photograph of Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
FBI
Authorities are additionally working to find out whether or not there could also be a hyperlink between the New Orleans assault and a Tesla Cybertruck explosion on Wednesday outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel in Nevada, which is being investigated as a potential act of terror, an official mentioned.
The Cybertruck that exploded was rented through the Turo app, as was the truck used within the New Orleans assault, sources advised ABC Information.
Biden mentioned legislation enforcement and the intelligence neighborhood had been investigating whether or not there was “any potential connection” between the 2 assaults.
“To date, there’s nothing to report on that rating,” Biden mentioned.
It is a creating story. Please examine again for updates.
