FBI now says the suspect in the deadly New Orleans truck attack acted alone

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the driver of the pickup truck who plowed into a crowd in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens, acted alone and there is no other threat around the Bourbon Street area, the FBI said Thursday.

“We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack,” Christopher Raia, FBI deputy assistant director with the agency’s counterterrorism division, told reporters during a press conference.

Raia said investigators are combing through five electronic devices — three cellphones and two laptops — and there is “nothing to indicate through call records, through anything on those devices, through interviews, through anything in our systems that he was aided in this attack by anyone.”

This is a change in the FBI’s initial assessment on Wednesday that it was likely Jabbar did not act alone and the agency was searching for information that could lead to additional suspects who may have aided in the attack.

“Right now, we’ve got a much better picture and much more confidence on what we were dealing with than we were just 24 hours ago,” Raia said Thursday.

Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran from Houston, was killed in a gunfire exchange with police following the attack, which is being investigated as “an act of terrorism,” agency officials said. A black flag with ties to ISIS was attached to the back of the pickup truck and while an exact motive is unclear, Raia said Jabbar was “100% inspired” by the terrorist group.

The driver rented a white F-150 on Monday in Houston before heading to New Orleans on Tuesday, according to Raia. Jabbar posted “several videos” to social media declaring his support for ISIS and explained that while he planned to hurt his family and friends he was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers,” Raia said. Jabbar also said he joined ISIS before the summer of 2024.

Police have said that around 3:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Jabbar veered around a police vehicle blocking the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets, speeding onto the sidewalk before steering back onto Bourbon. He continued for nearly three blocks down Bourbon Street, crossing Iberville Street and Bienville Street, and then crashing just before Conti Street. Jabbar then exited the pickup and fired at police officers, injuring two. The injured officers are in stable condition, police said in a Wednesday morning news briefing.

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Surveillance footage also shows that Jabbar placed two IED devices in coolers around the area prior to the attack, according to Raia.

Bourbon Street, which has been closed as authorities investigate, has been cleaned overnight and was reopened to pedestrians on Thursday. Fourteen yellow roses have been placed on the sidewalk near Canal Street as a makeshift memorial for each of those killed in the speeding rampage.

The Sugar Bowl, a nationally televised game that is part of the college football playoffs, was slated to take place in New Orleans on Wednesday night but was postponed until Thursday afternoon. 

“With law enforcement assets that would typically be allocated to an event of this stature currently engaged in active investigations related to the incident, the postponement will allow for additional security resources to be put in place in order to maintain the typical standards of a major event in the Caesars Superdome,” the Sugar Bowl said in a statement Wednesday night.

When asked about security measures in the city ahead of the game, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry told reporters that officials “reinforced the area” and “deployed some additional types of assets.”

“I don’t like to give specifics because I don’t like to tell the enemy what we got,” he said. “But I can tell you we’re in better shape than we were before,” Landry said.He also said there is “an unprecedented amount of law enforcement resources that are being utilized” to finalize the investigation.

Raia said said there is currently “no definitive link” between the attack in New Orleans and a Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas in front of the Trump Hotel on Wednesday, in which the suspect was killed inside the vehicle.

Details about Jabbar and his past emerge

Jabbar, who was a U.S. citizen, was honorably discharged from the Army, according to the FBI. He also served as a Human Resource Specialist and Information Technology Specialist from March 2007 until January 2015 and then in the Army Reserve as an IT Specialist until July 2020, an Army spokesperson confirmed to NPR. In February 2009, Jabbar deployed to Afghanistan where he served for about 11 months. He left the service with the rank of staff sergeant.

The FBI completed the search of Jabbar’s home in Houston Thursday morning and said in a post on social media that there is “no threat to residents” in the area. The Texas Newsroom reported that a neighbor, who didn’t know Jabbar by name, described the suspect as quiet and their interactions as normal.