FBI identifies driver in deadly New Orleans terror attack

Published 8:10 pm Wednesday, January 1, 2025

BREAKING: Investigators have reviewed video of three men and a woman placing explosives in connection with the deadly car attack in New Orleans’s French Quarter.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A driver wrought carnage on New Orleans’ famed French Quarter early on New Year’s Day, killing 10 people as he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd before being shot to death by police, authorities said.
More than 30 people were injured as Wednesday’s attack turned festive Bourbon Street into macabre mayhem. The FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism and said it does not believe the driver acted alone. An Islamic State group flag was found on the vehicle’s trailer hitch, the FBI said.
Investigators also found guns and pipe bombs, which were concealed within coolers, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press. Both devices were wired for remote detonation, and a corresponding remote control was discovered inside the suspect’s truck, the bulletin said.

The FBI identifies the suspect as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar. He is killed in a firefight with police. The FBI says several possible explosive devices were recovered and that a flag associated with the Islamic State group was found in the truck.

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What we know so far:
•What happened in the New Orleans incident? Emergency services attended the scene after a vehicle drove into a crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street. The area is known as one of the largest New Year’s Eve destinations.
•What is the latest on the attacker? The driver was killed in a firefight with police following the attack around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday along Bourbon Street in the city’s bustling French Quarter, the FBI said.
•What have the FBI and police said? Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.” FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said officials were investigating at least one suspected improvised explosive device at the scene.

Sugar Bowl postponed after New Orleans attack

The Sugar Bowl has been postponed for 24 hours after an attack during New Year’s celebrations in New Orleans left 10 people dead and at least 35 injured.
AllState Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley says the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game between Georgia and Notre Dame will be held Thursday. It had been scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Hundley says the decision was made in the interest of public safety.

Investigators work the scene after a person drove a vehicle into a crowd earlier on Canal and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The FBI says it does not believe that the Texas man who killed at least 10 people in a suspected New Orleans terror attack acted alone.
Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, said at a news conference that officials are actively seeking any possible associates of the man, identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar.