Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a former veteran, acted alone in a deadly attack in New Orleans, US President Joe Biden revealed. Jabbar drove his pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 15 people and injuring 35 others early on Wednesday.
The assailant died in a shootout with police after the incident.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is treating the incident as an act of terrorism. Jabbar, aged 42 and a Houston resident, had travelled to New Orleans before carrying out the attack.
In a White House briefing on Thursday, Biden stated, “Today, the FBI briefed me that, as of now, we have no information that anyone else is involved in the attack. They've established that the attacker was the same person who planted the explosives in those ice coolers in two nearby locations in the French Quarter just a few hours before he rammed into the crowd with his vehicle.”
Biden confirmed that Jabbar had a remote detonator in his vehicle, which was intended to trigger two ice chests containing explosives placed in the French Quarter.
The President added, “The attacker posted several videos just several hours before the attack indicating his strong support for ISIS. Federal law enforcement and the intelligence community are actively investigating any foreign or domestic contacts or connections that could possibly be relevant to the attack.”
Jabbar’s military background has come under scrutiny. According to ABC News, he served in the US Army from 2007 to 2015, including a deployment to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010. Post-2015, he worked as an IT specialist in the Army Reserve until 2020.
His roles, primarily in human resources and information technology, were not directly combat-related.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Fox News that Jabbar’s actions reflect a broader “phenomenon of homegrown violent extremists that we have seen develop and emerge over the past ten years.”
The attack’s connection to another incident in Las Vegas remains under investigation.
“As of now… they've just been briefed, they have not found any evidence of such a connection thus far. I've directed them to keep looking,” Biden said.
He noted that the individual who rented the truck involved in the Las Vegas explosion was also a former US Army service member, and investigations are ongoing to determine any motives or links.
Biden emphasised the resilience of New Orleans, stating, “In the meantime, like I said last night, New Orleans is a city of tremendous spirit. You can't keep it down. You really can't, and we're seeing that today.”
The President assured the public that all resources are being mobilised to expedite investigations.
“Been making every single resource available to get the job done, and we're going to share the facts as soon as I learn them so the American public doesn't have to wonder,” he said.
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