By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-02 19:41:30 | Updated at 2025-01-05 02:46:28
2 days ago
A US Army veteran who drove a truck into a crowd of New Year’s Day revellers on Bourbon Street, New Orleans had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, but acted alone in the attack that killed at least 14 people, the FBI said on Thursday.
The suspect, who the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said was shot dead at the scene after firing at police, has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan who once served in Afghanistan.
He drove from Houston to New Orleans on December 31, and posted five videos on Facebook between 1:29am and 3:02am on the morning of the attack in which he said he supported Islamic State, the militant group with fighters in Iraq and Syria, the FBI said.
In the first video, Jabbar said he previously planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned that the media coverage would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers”, FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said at a press conference.
Jabbar also said in the videos that he had joined Islamic State before last summer and provided his last will and testament, Raia said.
“This was an act of terrorism,” Raia said. “It was premeditated and an evil act.” The FBI was still investigating Jabbar’s “path to radicalisation”, but the evidence reviewed so far showed that he was clearly inspired by Islamic State, Raia said.
