BREAKING: New Orleans officials identify suspect in New Year's massacre as Shamsud Din Jabbar

Officials in New Orleans have said that they have identified the name of the suspect in the New Year's massacre as Shamsud Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old man who was killed during the police response to the attack. 

A law enforcement source speaking to The Advocate said that the suspect was carrying an ISIS flag in the truck. He reportedly served in the US Army and was born and raised in Texas, said Karol Markowicz. New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno said that the suspect was in full military gear at the time of the attack and did not appear to be a local resident. 

Authorities had the name earlier but did not release it right away because they say it is common. They want to be certain that they have the right identity before releasing that to the public, per ABC.

 

Video unearthed from YouTube shows Jabbar working as a property manager for a veteran-owed in Houston, Tex. This is believed to be the same man who is suspected to have undertaken the New Orleans massacre with the rented Ford truck.

Local officials are holding a press conference at 2 pm local time.

Thus far, authorities know that the truck came across the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Tex. on November 16. It has also been reported that the EV Ford F-150 was rented out by the truck's owner via the Turo car sharing app. 

Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said that the suspect was seeking to cause as much damage as possible. After plowing into the crowd, he got out of the truck and began firing, taking the lives of 10 people and sending at least 35 to area hospitals.

Police engaged with the suspect in a firefight and that suspect was killed. Officers were injured as well. The FBI is investigating the incident as a terrorist attack.

There had been speculation about identifiers on the truck, such as a flagpole that was there in some photos. That flagpole, according to Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, may have been an ISIS flag, though that has not been confirmed.

Speaking to local news, Nungesser said "I had a national press person as he was getting on a plane heading to New Orleans tell me, ask me if I could confirm if there was an ISIS flag on the back of the truck. And that's what he heard, I do not know that for a fact, but that was told by a reporter that was boarding a plane from New York to come to New Orleans to cover this story just about 45 minutes ago. But I don't want to start a rumor, that was just what he heard, and he asked me to confirm that, which I could not do."



This is a developing story.