15 dead in New Orleans attack, suspect planned to join ISIS, kill family
The suspect in the New Orleans shooting-ramming attack, identified as a US Army veteran who served.
In Afghanistan, had an ISIS flag on his truck and may have carried out the carnage with the assistance of others, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said. The incident, which occurred in the busy French Quarter on New Year’s Day, killed 15 people and the FBI is probing it as a terrorist attack.
The attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, first rammed the crowd and then opened fire at the crowd on Wednesday, killing 15 and injuring at least 30. He was also killed in a shootout with police after the incident.
The investigators found guns and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle, along with other devices. The ISIS flag was found on the vehicle’s trailer hitch, news agency AP reported.
US President Joe Biden said that the FBI found videos that the attacker had posted to social media hours before the attack in which he said he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressed a desire to kill. US broadcaster CNN, citing officials briefed on the investigation, said the suspect recorded videos in which he mentioned dreams about joining ISIS.
In the videos, Jabbar also spoke about his divorce and plans to gather his family for a “celebration” with the intent of killing them. He later changed his plans and said that he joined ISIS, according to CNN.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible. We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates,” an FBI officer told reporters, adding that investigators were looking into a “range of suspects”.
Jabbar worked in real estate in Houston, according to public records. In one of his videos, he described himself as born and reared in Beaumont, a city about 130 km east of Houston, and said he spent 10 years in the US military as a human resource and IT specialist.
Jabbar was a regular soldier from March 2007 until January 2015 and then in the Army Reserve from January 2015 until July 2020. He was deployed in Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010 and held the rank of staff sergeant at the end of service.
PROBING LINKS BETWEEN NEW ORLEANS-LAS VEGAS ATTACKS: BIDEN
Joe Biden condemned the New Orleans attack and called it “despicable” act and said investigators were looking into whether there might be a link to a Tesla truck fire outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. So far, there was no evidence linking the two events, Biden said.
“The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing the desire to kill,” Biden said.
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing the driver and injuring seven others, and the FBI was investigating whether the blast was an act of terrorism.