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FBI officials named Shamsud-Din Jabbar as the suspect of the apparent terrorist attack in New Orleans that left at least 15 people dead and more than 30 injured on New Year’s Day.
Other Individuals Possibly Involved
In a news conference Wednesday, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said Jabbar is unlikely the only person involved in the attack.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible. We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates,” she said.
Duncan then asked the public to contact the FBI if they have any information on whether another suspect was involved in the suspected terror attack.
“That’s why we need the public’s help. We’re asking if anybody has any interactions with Shamsud-Din Jabbar in the last 72 hours that you contact us,” she said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference. “The FBI is asking for the public’s help. We’re asking anyone who has information, video or pictures to provide it to the FBI.”
An American Citizen
The FBI said that Jabbar was an American citizen from Texas, following online speculations that the suspect may have entered the United States from Mexico in recent days before carrying out the attack.
Based on the FBI’s statement, it’s not clear whether Jabbar was naturalized or was born inside the United States. It’s also unclear if he spent significant amounts of time in another country.
“My understanding is there may have been some identification that indicated that the suspect had a local residence and so that information is being tested,” he said.
ISIS Flag Found
In its statement, the FBI said that “an ISIS flag” was found in the suspect’s truck. Later, officials said at a news conference that the flag was hitched to the suspect’s truck.
“An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations,” the FBI said.
During the Syrian Civil war, ISIS had taken control over swaths of Syria and Iraq starting in the early 2010s before it was largely dismantled in the latter part of that decade. The group would often produce videos, distributed on social media, that showed brutal executions of its captors, including American journalist James Foley in 2014.
Rental Truck
Car-sharing marketplace Turo confirmed on Wednesday that the truck used in the attack was rented via its company, a type of peer-to-peer service.
“We are heartbroken to learn that one of our host’s vehicles was involved in this awful incident,” Turo spokesman Steve Webb said in a statement to media outlets Wednesday. “We are actively partnering with the FBI. We are not currently aware of anything in this guest’s background that would have identified him as a trust and safety threat to us at the time of the reservation.”
Improvised Explosive Devices Also Found
FBI officials said they found weapons and a possible IED, or improvised explosive device, in the truck at the time of the attack. The type of weapons or IED was not specified in the statement.
“Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter” in New Orleans, the agency said. “The FBI’s special agent bomb technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe,” the statement read.
Investigated as a Terrorist Attack
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell declared the incident was a “terrorist attack” that was intentionally carried out.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could,” New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “It was not a DUI situation. This is more complex and more serious.”
The chief said that the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”
In its first statement on the matter, the FBI said: “This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others. The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.”
