FBI says New Orleans truck attacker acted alone, was ‘100% inspired’ by Isis
Investigators seek clues to Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s path to radicalisation following deadly New Orleans rampage
The US Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revellers in New Orleans acted alone, the FBI said Thursday, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others in the deadly attack that officials said was inspired by Islamic State.
The FBI also revealed that the driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an American citizen from Texas, posted five videos on his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he proclaimed his support for the militant group and previewed the violence that he would soon unleash in the famed French Quarter district.
“This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act,” said Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, calling Jabbar “100 per cent inspired” by Islamic State.
The attack along Bourbon Street killed 14 revellers, along with Jabbar, 42, who was fatally shot in a firefight with police after steering his speeding truck around a barricade and ploughing into the crowd. About 30 people were injured.
It was the deadliest Isis-inspired assault on US soil in years, laying bare what federal officials have warned is a resurgent international terrorism threat. It also comes as the FBI and other agencies brace for dramatic leadership upheaval – and likely policy changes – after President-elect Donald Trump’s administration takes office.
