The newest:
- Truck driver in New Orleans assault acted alone, says FBI.
- Company calls it an act of terrorism impressed by the ISIS, an Islamist militant group.
- No “definitive” hyperlink between the Bourbon Avenue assault and a lethal explosion in Las Vegas.
- Authorities assessed no “credible menace” to New Orleans forward of New 12 months’s Day assault.
The FBI now says that the pickup truck driver accountable for a lethal rampage on Bourbon Avenue in New Orleans acted alone.
A person within the rented truck rammed right into a New 12 months’s Day crowd within the metropolis early Wednesday, killing 14 folks and injuring dozens of others.
Officers initially mentioned they had been looking for extra potential suspects within the assault, which is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
However Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, mentioned on Thursday that the proof now reveals that Shamsud-Din Jabbar was solely accountable for the assault and had professed allegiance to ISIS, an Islamist militant group.
“We’re assured at this level that there is not any accomplices,” Raia informed reporters.
FBI official Christopher Raia mentioned Thursday that investigators don’t imagine at this level that anybody apart from the accused was concerned within the New Orleans truck assault, which he described as an ‘act of terrorism’ that noticed 14 harmless folks killed.
Weapons and pipe bombs had been discovered within the suspect’s car, in line with a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Related Press. The gadgets had been hid inside coolers and wired for distant detonation with a distant management that was additionally discovered within the car, the bulletin mentioned.
“A variety of the early reviews got here out that there have been additional folks setting the coolers down,” Raia mentioned.
He defined that they turned out to be members of the general public who merely picked up coolers already positioned.
“We did not know that initially, so we needed to observe that down and put that to relaxation.”
Jabbar was killed after the ramming assault throughout a firefight with police.
“What I can inform you proper now could be that he was 100 per cent impressed by ISIS,” Raia mentioned, including that investigators are digging by way of extra of his social media to “confirm extra about that connection.”
On Wednesday, the FBI mentioned it had recovered an ISIS flag, which is black with white lettering, from the car used within the assault.
Officers had initially put the loss of life toll at 15, however the FBI clarified on Thursday that the entire variety of fatalities included Jabbar.
Raia additionally spoke about Wednesday’s explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck exterior U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s lodge in Las Vegas, which killed a person contained in the car. The incident sparked an intense investigation into doable terrorism linked to the New Orleans assault.
“At this level, there is no such thing as a definitive hyperlink between the assault right here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” he mentioned.
The Cybertruck was full of firework mortars and camp gasoline canisters. The one that died within the explosion was an active-duty U.S. military soldier, three U.S. officers informed The Related Press on Thursday. Legislation enforcement officers recognized the person contained in the futuristic-looking pickup truck as Matthew Livelsberger, believed to have lived in Colorado.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, talking on the similar information convention as Raia, mentioned Bourbon Avenue can be reopened earlier than the Sugar Bowl soccer recreation, now scheduled to start at 3 p.m. native time on Thursday.
Authorities assessed no “credible menace” from the occasions on Bourbon Avenue early Wednesday, in line with a joint Louisiana and New Orleans police menace evaluation obtained by Reuters.
The doc is dated December 2024 and notes there was no credible menace from worldwide terrorists, homegrown violent extremists or home violent extremists.
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