The investigation into the deadly truck attack on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street continues after a driver plowed into a crowd of New Year’s Day revelers, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. The attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism, according to the FBI.
The driver of the truck was identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas. He was in the U.S. military, including an 11-month deployment to Afghanistan, according to an Army spokesperson. He was discharged in 2015 and worked in real estate in recent years.
Investigators are continuing to search for a motive. They are also looking into whether Jabbar had any accomplices. New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told “CBS Mornings” Thursday that law enforcement does not know if the driver acted alone, but Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said there is a belief that “there are multiple people that were involved and working with the driver of the vehicle.”
“I want to qualify that it’s not that we believe that he did not act alone, we do not know,” Kirkpatrick said. “And so we’re going to continue to assume that he is not a lone wolf until we know otherwise.”
Members of the House Homeland Security Committee and members of the Louisiana congressional delegation are set to be briefed by the FBI in a call on Thursday morning.
Early Wednesday morning, just hours after New Orleans had rung in 2025, authorties say Jabbar drove a Ford electric pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street, swerving around barriers and driving up onto the sidewalk. He then got out of the car and began firing at police officers. He died after exchanging gunfire with three responding officers, the FBI said. The New Orleans Police Department said he was struck by police fire and declared dead at the scene.
An ISIS flag was found on the truck’s trailer hitch, the FBI said. In televised remarks Wednesday evening, President Biden said the FBI has determined that the man “posted videos to social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill” just hours before the attack.
Investigators found a “weapons and a potential IED,” or improvised explosive device, in the man’s vehicle, the FBI said in a statement Wednesday. “Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter,” where Bourbon Street is, the statement said. The FBI said Wednesday afternoon that two IEDs had been found and neutralized. A long gun with a suppressive device acting as a silencer was also found in the vehicle, law enforcement sources said, and the man was wearing body armor.
The number of IEDs left behind is a large part of why the FBI believes the man may have had an accomplice, sources told CBS News on Wednesday.
Murrill said a fire at the Airbnb where the man was staying also led to the belief that he may have had accomplices.
“We had some information yesterday about the placement of the IEDs and the timing of the placement of the IEDs,” Murrill said. “There was a house fire early in the morning but later than the timing of the event at 3 in the morning, and so we have good reason to believe that there were multiple people that were involved.”
Kerry Breen is a news editor at CBSNews.com. A graduate of New York University’s Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she previously worked at NBC News’ TODAY Digital. She covers current events, breaking news and issues including substance use.
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