FBI officials now believe that the suspect in the New Orleans terrorist attack on New Year’s Day was acting alone after previously saying they believed he had accomplices.
FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said Thursday that investigators believe there are no additional suspects in the Bourbon Street attack, which killed at least 15 people early Wednesday.
“We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the subject you’ve already been briefed on,” Raia said.
At Wednesday’s briefing, Assistant Special Agent Althea Duncan said investigators did not believe Jabbar acted alone.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” said Duncan, who was not present at Thursday’s briefing. “We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”
Raia also said officials do not believe the New Orleans terrorist attack is connected to a Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas but that the investigation is early.
“As you know, there’s also an FBI investigation in Las Vegas,” Raia said. “We are following up on all potential leads and not ruling everything out. However, at this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas.
“And again, I’ll preface as I close, I’ll preface everything with what I started with in the beginning, which was this is very early in an investigation like this,” he added.
While there are few indications of the New Orleans terrorist attack and a Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas being linked, officials have said in the past day it is something they are investigating.
The New Orleans attack occurred in the early hours of Wednesday when Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, drove a truck through crowds of pedestrians on Bourbon Street, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more. In the Las Vegas incident, Alan Livelsberger, 37, drove up to the entrance of the Trump Tower hotel and, seconds later, had his Tesla Cybertruck explode, injuring seven people. Gas canisters and firework mortars were found in the vehicle.
Both events occurred on New Year’s Day and involved vehicles, but they also used the same rental service to get the vehicles. Jabbar and Livelsberger also both served in the military.
A spokesperson for Turo, the rental car service, said in a statement Wednesday that the service was “actively partnering with law enforcement authorities to share any information that could be helpful in their investigations.”
The spokesperson also said that Turo personnel did not believe either man had a “criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat” and did not have “any information that indicates the two incidents are related.”
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President Joe Biden said connections between the two attacks were something authorities were examining when he addressed the nation Wednesday evening.
“The law enforcement intelligence community are continuing to look for any connections, associations are co-conspirators,” Biden said Wednesday. “We have nothing additional reported this time, the investigation is continuing to be active, and no one should jump to conclusions.”
