FBI, ATF and officials proclaim Jabbar was acting alone; city reopens Bourbon Street, hosts Sugar Bowl
By ALAN SMASON, Special to the CCJN
Following the worst act of terrorism to ever hit New Orleans, city and state officials want the citizenry to know several key points: there was no terrorist cell responsible, the city is safer than ever and business is now reopening and will be back to normal.
Christopher Raia, deputy director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, center, speaks with Mayor LaToya Cantrell at left and Governor Jeff Landry at right. (Screenshot)
At a press conference held this morning and coordinated by Governor Jeff Landry and Mayor LaToya Cantrell, all area law enforcement agencies were present as well as lead investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
After reviewing surveillance videos and interviewing hundreds of people, federal agents now believe Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the man accused of the terrorist ramming attack on Bourbon Street yesterday, acted alone.
“First and foremost , let me be very clear about this point. This was an act of terrorism. it was premeditated and an evil act,” said Christopher Raia, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “At this point, currently, and this is another fact I want to be clear on, we do not assess at this point that anyone else was involved in this attack except Shamsud-Din Jabbar,” he emphasized. “We’re confident at this point that there’s no accomplices.”
Raia spoke this morning to reporters and gave a timeline and more background on Jabbar, who was killed in an exchange of gunfire with NOPD officers. Jabbar used his vehicle at 3:15 a.m. on New Year’s Day to mow down 14 revelers on the Bourbon Street pedestrian mall and to send 35 others to area hospitals with severe and critical injuries.
The names of eight of the 14 dead have been released. While most of the injured still remain at the trauma center at University Medical Center, a few others are located at Touro, Oschner Baptist and Tulane Hospitals.
Two of the dozens of injured include two young adult visitors from Israel with severe injuries and one Jewish girl from Ft. Myers, FL. According to Ynet news agency in Israel, the two Israelis are both on ventilators, but are stable and not considered in danger. A representative of the Israel Consulate to the Southwest United States in Houston was dispatched to New Orleans yesterday in advance of the Israelis’ parents arrival to New Orleans.
Elad Shoshan, deputy consul general, Israel Consulate to the Southwest United States. (Official photo)
When contacted by reporters, Elad Shoshan, the deputy consul general said the two Israelis were unable to speak yesterday. “We hope to speak with them tomorrow,” Shoshan told Ynet yesterday.
No other information has been forthcoming on the young visitor from Ft. Myers, but it is the policy of the CCJN to not release information on minors without the permission of their parents. No other information is available at this time.
After determining Jabbar’s actions were a terrorist act and a violation of federal law, the FBI took over the lead yesterday in the investigation and began processing the horrific scene in the French Quarter. Following a house fire on Mandeville Street in the St. Roch neighborhood, additional evidence uncovered by the New Orleans Fire Department led to a determination that it was the temporary residence where Jabbar had been staying prior to his attack. Agents from the FBI, ATF took over control of the site and began processing that area as well.
After spending all day yesterday and most of the night, the FBI released the Bourbon Street scene back to the city.
Once Bourbon Street was released to the city, Mayor LaToya Cantrell contacted contractor Sidney Torres’ IV Waste to begin cleaning the former crime scene, scrubbing the streets in advance of the 1:00 p.m. opening of the pedestrian, two hours before Sugar Bowl game time.
The FBI and ATF are still maintaining control of the Mandeville Airbnb residence. That is where they believe Jabbar constructed the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) he had in his truck at the time of his death. Officials found two other IEDs in coolers at two locations in the French Quarter after the attack, which were later detonated by NOPD bomb squad members.
Raia gave additional details on what the FBI now knows about Jabbar’s timeline. “He was 100% inspired by ISIS,” he explained.
Raia said they recovered two laptops and three cellphones Jabbar used in the hours leading up to and during his attack. They are reviewing that data as well, he said.
ATF special agent in charge Joshua Jackson, right, with City of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, left. (Screenshot)
According to the FBI deputy director, the information for the timeline was determined following more than 400 tips received and reviewing hundreds of hours of surveillance videos.
Raia said Jabbar picked up the rented Ford F-150 in Houston on Sunday, December 30, before driving to New Orleans on the evening of New Year’s Eve.
The FBI learned that Jabbar posted five videos on his Facebook account proclaiming his support for Daesh (ISIS) and his intent to kill others. The videos were time stamped on New Year’s Day from 1:29 to 3:02 a.m., the last video posted just minutes prior to the attack on Bourbon Street.
“In the first video, Jabbar explains 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,'” Raia told reporters. “He stated he joined ISIS before the summer. He also provided a (last) will and testament.”
An ISIS flag was flown from a plastic pipe attached to the rear of the Ford truck used in the attack. At the time of his death, Jabbar, a veteran of the U.S. Army, was wearing body armor. At least one IED and several weapons were found in the truck’s cab or at his side when he died.
This led the FBI and local responders to seek out any other IEDs that might have been planted nearby. Eventually surveillance video showed Jabbar placing two coolers containing IEDs at the corner of Bourbon and Orleans and another two blocks away in the French Quarter in the hours leading up to his attack. Passersby seen looking at the coolers on videos were mistaken as being possible co-conspirators with Jabbar, but all of those people were eventually cleared by investigators, Raia stated.
According to Raia, the two devices that were found were detonated out of a sense of caution by NOPD bomb squad members yesterday. They were the only functional devices that had been located, he added.
FBI agents are still interested in talking to anyone who was on the scene before the carnage occurred. “We want to talk to anyone who was in the French Quarter on New Year’s Eve or early on New Year’s Day,” he advised. The phone number to dial is 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Special agent Raia also addressed questions regarding another suspected terror act in Las Vegas where a man detonated explosives in a Tesla Cybertruck parked in front of the Trump Casino. Like Jabbar’s truck, the Cybertruck was also rented by the Turo application and some reporters suggested it may have been more than a coincidence.
Raia stated that investigation is still ongoing. “However,” he noted, “at this point there is no definitive leak between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas.”
Mayor Cantrell thanked the FBI and Governor Landry for their help in coordinating efforts that led to the reopening of Bourbon Street and permitted the Sugar Bowl to be played this afternoon at the heavily secured Caesar’s Superdome. New barriers on Canal Street have been erected that will now prevent similar attempts to jump the sidewalk as Jabbar did as he launched his attack on Bourbons Street.
She emphasized that New Orleans is ready to host this event and will be prepared for Super Bowl LXIX in just a month from now. “We’re ready to continue to host large scale events in our city because we are built to host at every single turn,” she proclaimed.
Governor Landry emphasized the unprecedented amount of law enforcement resources that have poured into the city. “This type of event can happen in any city and that’s the tragedy of it.” He announced yesterday he would attend the Sugar Bowl to demonstrate how secure he felt it would be with the expected police presence there.
“To protect our citizens in America from evil, you have to crush it,” he said. “We’re going to put it all behind us. This city will be back.”
Editor’s note: The young Jewish girl listed as injured was originally listed as having hailed from Atlanta, not Ft. Myers. She was visiting with relatives from Atlanta. The CCJN regrets the error.
