The United States Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers acted alone, the FBI said on Thursday, January 2, during a press conference on the deadly attack, which is being investigated as an act of terrorism inspired by the Islamic State group.
The attack killed 14 people , including an 18-year-old woman who had ambitions of becoming a nurse. Authorities initially put the death toll at 15, which included Jabbar, who was fatally shot in a firefight with police.
"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. "We do not assess at this point that anyone else was involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar," Raia added
Officials had said, on Wednesday, that they were seeking additional potential suspects in the attack, which occurred when Jabbar steered around a police blockade and plowed into a crowd, killing more than a dozen people, including an 18-year-old woman who had ambitions of becoming a nurse.
However, Raia said the current assessment is that he acted alone, without any conspirators.
The FBI also revealed that the driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US citizen from Texas, posted five videos on his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he aligned himself with the Islamic State group and said he had joined the militant group last summer.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar "drove from Houston to New Orleans on the evening of the 31st and he posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS," FBI deputy assistant director Christopher Raia told a press conference, using another name for the armed group.
In one video, Jabbar "explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the 'war between the believers and the disbelievers.'"
The FBI added that the deadly truck-ramming in New Orleans and a vehicle explosion outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas do not appear to be linked.
"At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas," FBI deputy assistant director Christopher Raia said at a press conference.
Jabbar also planted two homemade bombs on the streets of the bustling French Quarter, the FBI said.
"We did obtain surveillance footage showing Jabbar placing the devices where they were found," Raia said of the bombs hidden in coolers, adding that they were left on Bourbon Street – the road which he later drove down – and another spot nearby.