'Objective Evil': Police Hunt for Clues in ISIS-Inspired Terror Massacre in New Orleans
The FBI is searching for clues in the New Year's Day terror attack in New Orleans. The early morning rampage took the lives of 15 people, including a former college football player and a young, single mother. Federal agents are also looking into whether the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas is connected.
So far the FBI is saying the evidence indicates the driver who murdered revelers in New Orleans acted alone, but he was "100%" inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group The man drove a rented pickup truck through the New Year's Eve crowd in New Orleans at a high rate of speed.
That truck, which was carrying an ISIS flag, barreled down Canal and Bourbon streets at 3:15 a.m. Wednesday. The suspect was wearing body armor and firing an AR-style rifle out of the truck, leaving three blocks of carnage, killing 15 and injuring dozens more.
Zion Parsons, who witnessed the event, is relieved to have survived it. "We ran one way, so like about five feet away from the curb, and we ran into the bar to be protected by this, by the little divot," he said.
The suspect crashed the truck, then stepped out and opened fire, wounding two police officers, before being shot and killed. He's identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, a U.S.-born citizen and Army veteran who lived in Houston, Texas.
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President Biden Wednesday said the suspect was a terrorist intent on causing maximum harm. "The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack he posted videos on social media that he was inspired by ISIS expressing a desire to kill," he said.
Police found multiple homemade pipe bombs packed with nails inside the truck. They also found other explosive devices in the city. At a news conference Wednesday, Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said like many, he questions why any person or people would commit such a horrific crime.
"For those people who don't believe in objective evil, all you have to do is look at what happened in our city early this morning," he said.
Officials say the normal steel barricades were not in place because they were being replaced in time for the Super Bowl being played in New Orleans next month. Vehicles were placed as blockades, but there were gaps.
New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick addressed what many are calling a lapse in judgment at a news conference. "We had barriers there, we had officers there, and they still got around. So we did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it," she said.
New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno said the new barrier should have been there. "This construction should have happened much earlier and everything really should have been ready and in place, fixed, repaired, ready to go now."
Meanwhile, about 600 miles to the west, investigators are questioning whether a deadly blast of a separate truck in Las Vegas is linked to the New Orleans attack. The same app was used to rent both the Las Vegas and the New Orleans vehicles.
UPDATE: Man Who Died in Cybertruck Explosion at Trump Hotel Was Active-Duty US Green Beret
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump Hotel, killing the driver and injuring seven others. The bed of the truck was filled with gas canisters, camping fuel, and fireworks. Officials are treating the Las Vegas incident as a possible act of terrorism.
The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 2, 2025
Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken. https://t.co/9vj1JdcRZV
Elsewhere, the FBI disrupted an alleged plot against an influential Jewish group in the days before Hanukkah. A Florida man was arrested for allegedly intending to carry out a shooting attack against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
