A member of the FBI's Evidence Response Team takes photographs on New Orleans' Bourbon Street following a New Year's Day attack in which an individual drove into a crowd. The FBI is surging agents to investigate the incident. Michael DeMocker / Getty Images
FBI confirms New Orleans attack was a terrorist incident
Counterterrorism officials said the assailant was “100% inspired by ISIS.” They have not linked the attack to a recent explosion in Las Vegas.
FBI officials said Thursday that the individual believed to be behind the New Orleans New Year’s Day attack was “100% inspired by ISIS,” noting that he posted videos supporting the Islamic militant organization, said he had joined the group and an ISIS flag was found with his vehicle.
Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, said at a press conference Thursday that the attack, which killed at least 14 people and injured 35 more, was an act of terrorism. The FBI is the lead agency investigating the incident.
Officials previously identified the driver as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas and Army veteran who was killed by police in an ensuing shootout.
Raia also said that the FBI does not currently assess that anyone else was involved in the New Orleans attack and that there is no definitive link between it and the explosion Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck outside of the Trump hotel in Las Vegas. The only fatality of that incident was an individual in the vehicle.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said at the press conference that more than 1,000 federal, state and local officers have been involved in the investigation, and Raia said that the FBI is surging staff to New Orleans.
“Special agents in multiple field offices across the country have been deployed and are assisting with potential aspects of this investigation and following up on every lead,” he said, noting the agency has received more than 400 tips.
FBI bomb technicians recovered two improvised explosive devices from near the attack; Raia said surveillance footage shows Jabbar placing them there.
Additionally, FBI’s Evidence Response Team is involved in collecting and processing evidence, and FBI specialists are providing assistance to victims and their family members.
Joshua Jackson — the special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives New Orleans field division — said at the press conference that an agency team is helping secure the Sugar Bowl that is taking place in New Orleans on Thursday. The college football playoff was scheduled to take place on New Year’s Day but was pushed back following the attack.
Jackson said that ATF security resources also would be available for the Super Bowl, which New Orleans is hosting next month, and March’s Mardi Gras celebration.
Republican members of Congress — including Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., — urged the FBI to be transparent during its investigation into the attack.