Terror Attacks in New Orleans, Las Vegas
It's not known if they're related.
When I saw the news yesterday morning that someone drove a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans, I didn’t think much of it. I assumed it was a drunk or a geriatric. It turns out to have been deliberate.
Today, at approximately 3:15 a.m. CST, an individual drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens of others. After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon local law enforcement. Law enforcement returned fire, and the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. Two law enforcement officers were injured and transported to a local hospital.
The subject has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas. He was driving a Ford pickup truck, which appears to have been rented, and we are working to confirm how the subject came into possession of the vehicle.
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.
Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter. 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 FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism. We are aggressively running down all leads to identify any possible associates of the subject.
AP (“Islamic State-inspired driver expressed desire to kill before deadly New Orleans rampage, Biden says“):
A U.S. Army veteran driving a pickup truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group wrought carnage on New Orleans’ raucous New Year’s celebration, killing 15 people as he steered around a police blockade and slammed into revelers before being shot dead by police.
The FBI said it was investigating the attack early Wednesday as a terrorist act and did not believe the driver acted alone. Investigators found guns and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle, along with other devices elsewhere in the city’s famed French Quarter.
President Joe Biden said Wednesday evening that the FBI found videos that the driver had posted to social media hours before the attack in which he said he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressed a desire to kill.
The rampage turned festive Bourbon Street into a macabre mayhem of maimed victims, bloodied bodies and pedestrians fleeing for safety inside nightclubs and restaurants. In addition to the dead, dozens of people were hurt. A college football playoff game at the nearby Superdome was postponed until Thursday.
[…]
The FBI identified the driver as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen from Texas, and said it was working to determine any potential associations with terrorist organizations.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said at a news conference.
Investigators found multiple improvised explosives, including two pipe bombs that were concealed within coolers and wired for remote detonation, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.
The bulletin, relying on preliminary information gathered soon after the attack, also cited surveillance footage that it said showed three men and a woman placing one of the devices, but federal officials did not immediately confirm that detail and it wasn’t clear who they were or what connection they had to the attack, if any.
Jabbar drove a rented pickup truck onto a sidewalk, going around a police car that was positioned to block vehicular traffic, authorities said. A barrier system meant to prevent vehicle attacks was being repaired in preparation for the Super Bowl in February.
Jabbar was killed by police after he exited the truck and opened fire on responding officers, Kirkpatrick said. Three officers returned fire. Two were shot and are in stable condition.
Investigators recovered a handgun and AR-style rifle, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
There were also deadly explosions in Honolulu and outside a Las Vegas hotel owned by President-elect Donald Trump. Biden said the FBI was looking into whether the Las Vegas explosion was connected to the New Orleans attack but had “nothing to report” as of Wednesday evening.
AP (“Firework mortars, gas cannisters stuffed inside Tesla that exploded outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel“):
Firework mortars and camp fuel canisters were found stuffed into the back of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel early Wednesday, killing a suspect inside the vehicle and sparking an intense investigation into possible terrorism.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark County Fire Department officials said that a person died inside the futuristic-looking pickup truck and seven people nearby suffered minor injuries.
By late Wednesday afternoon, authorities were still working to get the body out of the vehicle and start processing the evidence inside. President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion.
“Our number one goal is to ensure that we have the proper identification of the subject involved in this incident,” said Jeremy Schwartz, acting special agent in charge for the FBI’s Las Vegas office, “Following that, our second objective is to determine whether this was an act of terrorism or not.”
[…]
“This is a Tesla truck, and we know that Elon Musk is working with President-elect Trump, and it’s the Trump Tower,” McMahill said when reporters asked about possible political connections. “So there’s obviously things to be concerned about and it’s something we continue to look at.”
The truck explosion came hours after a driver rammed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing at least 15 people before being shot to death by police. That crash was being investigated as a terrorist attack and police believe the driver was not acting alone.
“We are absolutely investigating any connectivity to what happened in New Orleans as well as other attacks that have been occurring around the world,” McMahill said. “We aren’t ruling anything out.”
In a statement, Turo said it was working with authorities.
“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” the statement said.
NYT (“Investigators Search for Links Between New Orleans Attack and Las Vegas Blast“):
Investigators are looking into whether the deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans on Wednesday is linked to the detonation of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas later in the day, but they have yet to find any connection between the two episodes, President Biden said.
Local and federal law enforcement officials are trying to determine if the man who drove a truck into a crowd in the French Quarter just after 3 a.m. on Wednesday and the man who rented the Tesla that exploded in Nevada are connected beyond superficial similarities: Both men chose soft targets on New Year’s Day and rented trucks through the same budget car rental app, Turo.
“Law enforcement, the intelligence community are investigating” the Las Vegas explosion, “including whether there is any possible connection to the attack in New Orleans,” Mr. Biden said in a brief statement to reporters at Camp David.
“I directed my team to make sure every resource is made available to the federal, state and local law enforcement, to complete the investigation in New Orleans quickly, and make sure there’s no remaining threat to the American people,” he added.
Mr. Biden’s statement reflected the heightened sense of alarm among federal law enforcement officials who are investigating whether the New Orleans attack involved a larger cell of ISIS sympathizers — a scenario the F.B.I. and intelligence officials have warned was a growing threat.
Officials emphasized there was no reason to believe the two episodes were connected despite Mr. Biden’s comments. But they have yet to nail down key details of the Las Vegas blast — including whether the badly burned body recovered from the Cybertruck matches the man who rented the vehicle, according to a senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
By all indications, the Honolulu incident referenced in the first of the AP reports was an accident caused by amateurs using fireworks.
Whether the New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks are related is unclear, although the timing is rather suspicious. That they used the same car rental app is hardly compelling. Various social media reports have them both serving in the Army at what was then Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty), North Carolina at the same time. But that’s the largest base in the Army in terms of the number of soldiers stationed, so it could well be a coincidence.
Another story spotted this morning helps explain why yesterday’s news didn’t immediately set off alarm bells:
AP (“10 people are wounded in a shooting outside a New York City nightclub“):
Ten people were wounded in a shooting outside a New York City nightclub while they were waiting to get into a private event, police said.
About 15 people were standing outside Amazura nightclub at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday in Jamaica, Queens, when four men on foot approached the group of 16 to 20 year olds. Three or four men opened fire on the group, New York Police Department Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera said during an early Thursday news conference.
About 30 shots were fired before the gunmen fled on foot. They were then seen getting into a sedan with out-of-state plates.
[…]
The motive was not immediately known but Rivera said: “This is not terrorism.”
It usually isn’t.
The use of a Tesla as the repository of the explosives suggests to me that someone was making a nutso-cuckoo comment on Musk rather than Trump. (And it’s not Trump Tower in LV, that’s in NYC, it’s one of the hotels with his name on it. Sheriff Mahill should know the buildings in his jurisdiction.)
I get that law enforcement at every level is concerned about another 9/11 but it seems to me they’re far too eager to rush into claims about conspiracies with multiple participants. In Europe, maybe, but over here the majority of these incidents were perpetuated by one-offs with mental health issues.
Had this happened a couple of months from now, Kash Patel would have to re-assign some Vengeance Agents to the anti-terrorism beat.
That is interesting. My first thought was not a drunk or a geriatric. My assumption was that another American snapped
I suppose I have a darker view of America than you do. One that predates the rise of Trump.
The problem, yet again, is that rather than looking at itself, America will blame an Other–religion, race–rather than recognize that this country grinds the bones of its own to obtain the grist that fattens the worst of us.
That doesn’t excuse this murderer’s actions. This was a tragedy. And, sure, even in the most well-adjusted society, there will be individuals who do shit like this. But America seems to produce a lot of them.
It cannot help itself.
These Kendrick Lamar bars seem relevant:
As we have learned over the past month, it’s only terrorism if a CEO is targeted, otherwise it’s just sparkling criminal activity.
The use of a Deplorean as an explosive device is clever social commentary, but killing innocent people to protest the actions of leaders who clearly don’t care about innocent people won’t get the result they seek.
@Kurtz:
We can’t be admitting that. It’ll tank the economy and we’ll lose the windfall equity gains on our houses.
Of course, our future lying Commander in Chief, put out on “Truth” Social:
Two lies: The perpetrator was an American-born and raised veteran. And the crime rate has been declining.
But who can ever expect responsibility from the future head of state.
The message they hoped to send wasn’t what was received.
Hmm…Not sure what the implication is at this point.
The man who died in a Tesla Cybertruck explosion was an active-duty US Army soldier, officials say
@JKB:
You assume the glass doors were the target. Why would they be? There’s an overhang that the guy might have hoped to bring down or to set alight – cans of gas and fireworks is a mix to promote burning, they don’t have much explosive power – in which case the Cybertruck was the perfect choice. He just needed more boom.
@Michael Reynolds:
If I wanted to smash glass doors, I’d use a hammer.
@Michael Reynolds:
I just assume the guy wanted to blow up a Cybertruck publicly.
Fun fact: apparently the door locks (a) were intact; (b) automatically engaged and wouldn’t open; and (c) the police got Musk to open the doors remotely as well as provide footage from the in cabin camera (which apparently Teslas all have and records from which which Tesla seems to maintain). No search warrant needed.
It’s interesting to compare the internet chatter on each of these incidents that was going on before actual information was released.
With New Orleans, there was a lot of illegal immigrant claims, led by the President elect.
With the Tesla, there was a lot of “oh, yeah, Teslas explode — big batteries, poor construction.” And a lot of comments about how a Cybertruck on fire in front of a Trump hotel was really just the perfect meme for the incoming year. This was mostly on the left.
The right wing hateful assumptions around New Orleans seem far more dangerous than the left wing hateful assumptions around the Cybertruck.
Until we have information on the intent of the Cybertruck guy, I think we shouldn’t assume it was terrorism.
It’s definitely intended to send a message, but it could be closer to Thich Quang Duc setting himself on fire to protest the Vietnam war, rather than an attempt to kill other people.
It definitely could be terrorism, although the use of fireworks and canisters of “camp fuel” rather than a fertilizer bomb suggests either a desire for localized flames or someone who should have put a bit more time into researching how to make an explosion.
In other terrorism news, a man in Virginia had 150 pipe bombs.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/01/fbi-homemade-explosives-virginia
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/31/virginia-man-homemade-explosives-bail
@Scott: If the timeline is an indication, Fox News jumped on and pushed the “an illegal immigrant did it” meme before Trump amplified it on his ironically named Truth Social. Nice to see that when he isn’t playing golf, Trump is watching – and believing – Fox News.
@Gustopher:
I suppose you call the drop in Texla’s shares a coincidence?
No. It’s all those leftists not buying his cars anymore.
@Tony W:
Took all of a few minutes to start calling these attacks terrorism. Four years later, you still can’t get pundits, the media, or the government to call the perpetrators of the Jan 6 attack terrorists.
We all know why.
@Gustopher: The guy was ex Special Forces so I think he was versed in how to cause an explosion. I agree, it may have been performative versus terroristic. Or the dude was suicidal and wanted more attention in the process.
@Scott:
Give it two-and-a-half weeks. After Jan 20, with nothing in the data having changed at all, acknowledging that crime is historically low and that the economy is fair-to-okay will be trendy — no longer an error of out-of-touch liberal condescension.
To wit: “A recent Wall Street Journal poll of American voters in swing states found that while people think the national economy is in bad shape, they feel good about their personal finances.”
And:
I mean, how dare we liberal scolds tell the truth based on actual, literal numbers and contradict Americans’ vibes that change day-to-day based on nothing but personal partisan hackery and whatever’s trending on TikTok? Responsible people should be enabling our suicidal national delusions and collective mental illness.
@Kathy: @Gustopher:
I’ve been wondering who Elon thinks he’ll be selling cars to. American liberals, no. Europeans, no, they have BYD coming. China, no, they already have BYD. MAGAs trading in their $50K F-150’s for $80K Tesla Xs or knocked down Cybertrucks?
@DK:
I just heard some law enforcement spokesman say this is terrorism, it was terrible and violent. There’s a legal definition of terrorism, and that ain’t it. On the other hand, “juvenile” also has a legal definition that even the criminal justice system frequently ignores.
I haven’t seen anybody saying it, but it sounds to me like the common threads in these incidents are New Years Eve and PTSD.
Another Cybertruck catches fire:
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/31/cybertruck-catches-fire-dekalb-county-tesla-dealership/
Does not appear to be terrorism, just self-immolation by the Cybertruck itself, presumably embarrassed to be a Cybertruck, or horrified by the people who had come to test drive the Cybertruck.
Perhaps the Trump building Cybertruck is actually a hero, giving its own life to prevent an act of terrorism.
One could reasonably assume that an active duty Spec Ops guy would know that a combination of fireworks, camping white gas, and gasoline is not going to fell a building or even tear the face off of it Timothy McVeigh style.
This was an elaborate suicide.
Kudos, though, in renting a Cybertruck and parking in front of a Trump branded hotel. You’re an asshole, and probably / possibly a terrorist, but at least you were a bit cheeky.
Symbols matter. Had this happened in a Toyota outside of an Arby’s it’d be a minor local story.
CNN describes Shamsud-Din Jabbar:
“CNN“
Is terrorism intent or effect?
(I think intent. Prove me wrong.)
Does it matter if it is state sponsored? Lone wolf? A lone wolf who is a foreign national? A small cabal?
According to his uncle, the Tesla driver, Matthew Livelsberger, was a “super-soldier” and a patriot who loved Trump. He was also an explosives expert who wouldn’t have made such an amateurish bomb.
He also died of a gunshot wound before the fire could kill him.
@Michael Reynolds:
His children? Maybe that’s why he has so many.
As to the Xybertruck, which apparently it’s not a fridge despite appearances, I’ve been hearing a lot about shoddy finishes, sharp edges, that the interior looks like one of a much cheaper vehicle, and that it can’t be sold in Europe because it lacks any pedestrian protections.
I’ve heard a bit about the “steer by wire” tech in it. Some like it, some don’t. All agree it takes time to get used to it. Apparently no other vehicle has this yet. This seems odd, as the idea’s been floating about since the 80s, when fly-by-wire aircraft came out; both military and later civilian.
I suppose it’s the added expense of enough computer hardware.
@CSK:
Livelsberger shot himself in the head before the truck exploded.
@Kathy: Aircraft designers go to a lot of trouble, and expense, to ensure fly-by-wire is failsafe. Somehow I’d have trouble trusting a system designed under Musk’s management.
@gVOR10:
Flying is far different from driving. All the steer by wire does is turn the wheels. Inputs on the stick or yoke might move several flight surfaces. Then there’s integration with a bunch of other systems that keep the plane in the air.
I do see complications, though. The steering wheel on the Xybertruck has a rather limited range of movement. I’ve seen no explanation how the system decides how far to turn. If you need to make a sharp turn at high speed to keep from striking a person or obstacle, or to stay on the road, I’ve no idea what the fridge on wheels will do.
As to President Xlon, his “full ‘self-driving'”* is more like a death trap than a driver’s aid. So, no, I wouldn’t trust any part of his vehicles. I just thought it was notable to see development in the field after almost 4 decades.
*I can hear Linda Richmond saying “It’s neither full nor self, and it doesn’t drive. Discuss.”
@CSK:
Ha. Was he groomed by the same people who persuaded Thomas Matthew Crooks?