BREAKING: Shamsud-Din Jabbar 'inspired' by ISIS to carry out New Orleans terror attack, FBI now believes he acted alone

The FBI held a call with the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees on Thursday morning, over 24 hours after Shamsud-Din Jabbar killed at least 15 people and injured dozens of others in a New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans’ French Quarter, revealing new details in the case that is being investigated as a terror attack.

According to Fox News, the FBI now believes that Jabbar acted alone in the attack. The FBI also told lawmakers that Jabbar was "inspired" by ISIS but not "directed" by the terrorist organization.

 

In a Thursday morning press briefing, FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia told reporters that "this was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act."

He said that "we do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar."  He said that there have been over 400 tips received from the public across the country that are being followed up on.

Raia said that investigators believe Jabbar picked up the rented truck in Houston on December 30 and drove to New Orleans on the night of December 31. Jabbar "posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS." Five videos in total were posted between 1:29 am and 3:02 am. Jabbar said in the first video that he "originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the 'war between the believers and the disbelievers,'" said Raia. Jabbar also said that he had joined ISIS "before this summer."

Raia said that three phones linked to Jabbar had been recovered as well as two laptops, and that an ISIS flag was "recovered from the back of the vehicle." FBI bomb technicians recovered two IEDs in coolers, one which was located at the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans Street and one at an intersection around two blocks away. "There were multiple reports of other devices, those reports turned out to be … not actual functioning devices."  Surveillance footage was obtained showing Jabbar "placing the devices where they were found," said Raia. 

Raia noted the other incident that occurred in Las Vegas later Wednesday morning, in which a Cybertruck loaded with fireworks, gas tanks, and camping fuel exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in the city. "At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas," adding that "this is very early in" the investigation.

Anne Kirkpatrick, the New Orleans Police Department Superintendent, has said that there are currently no "accomplices" in the case, just "people of interest." This comes after the FBI has said that they do not believe Jabbar worked alone in his attack on revelers.

"At this time, I would not use the word accomplice. There are some people of interest that we — I know that the FBI wants to screen as to whether or not they were associated or not. So this is not an accomplice situation as of yet as I have been told in my most recent briefing."

She said that the FBI is looking at "anyone and everyone" who could "potentially have been affiliated, and it may very well be that they’re not, and it may be that this is a lone wolf. We do not have final confirmation on that so we’re gonna, as a community of law enforcement, will continue to be looking for other actors if there are."

FBI Spokesperson Aletha Duncan said in a Wednesday afternoon press conference, "We do not believe that Jabbar is solely responsible. We are aggressively running down every lead including those of his known associates. That's why we need the public's help," asking for those who had contact with Jabbar over the past 72 hours to come forward.

This is a developing story.