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.
