According to the FBI, the terrorist attack in New Orleans has nothing to do with the Tesla explosion
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The New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans was an “act of terrorism” but was not related to the explosion of a Tesla cybertruck in Las Vegas just hours later, according to the FBI.
While the investigation into… Attack in New Orleans The FBI was still in the early stages and assumed that the suspected perpetrator, decorated US Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, had acted alone.
“It was a premeditated and evil act,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said Thursday. “We are confident at this point that there are no accomplices.”
There is also “no definitive connection between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in …” Vegas” at that point, Raia said.
Fourteen people were killed and 35 injured when a man drove a pickup truck into a large crowd and opened fire in the heart New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Jabbar was also killed in a shootout with police.
The atrocities in New Orleans and the explosion in Las Vegas shocked Americans just at the end of a busy holiday season and sparked concerns from Donald Trump about crime in the US try to blame Joe Biden’s policies on violence.
Biden was briefed on Thursday about what the White House also called a terrorist attack.
The FBI said it was investigating Jabbar’s possible ties to terrorist organizations. On Wednesday, the agency found an Isis flag on his truck as well as two “operational” improvised explosive devices on the road that were deactivated by law enforcement, Raia said.
Three phones and two laptops linked to Jabbar were also recovered during searches, and investigators said they had begun putting together a timeline of the attack.
Jabbar had picked up the rented Ford F-150 pickup in Houston, Texas, on December 30 and drove east to New Orleans the following day.
In Facebook videos he posted while out and about, Jabbar announced his support for Isis and said he had initially planned to target family and friends but was “worried that the headlines are not focused on the war between believers and non-believers.” would,” said Raia.
The FBI said Jabber claimed to have joined ISIS over the summer and to have written a will.
Just hours after its devastating attack in New Orleans, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
On Thursday, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said investigators were “not aware of anyone else involved” other than the Cybertruck driver, tentatively identified as Matthew Livelsberger, 37, also a decorated U.S. soldier case were involved.
The driver suffered a gunshot wound to the head that police said was self-inflicted before the explosion, McMahill said, standing in front of images of the Cybertruck’s charred remains.
Police seized Livelsberger’s military ID, passport and credit cards, as well as a .50-caliber Desert Eagle semi-automatic pistol, a cell phone and a smartwatch.
The sheriff added that Tesla boss Elon Musk sent a team to Las Vegas to collect footage captured by cameras in the Cybertruck.
A motive for the Las Vegas “bombing” has not yet been determined, an FBI official said.
Kenny Cooper, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Las Vegas, said “the level of sophistication” of the bomb in the Cybertruck was “not what we would expect from a person with this type of military experience.” would”. .
Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, was a U.S. Army veteran who worked at consulting firm Deloitte. The company said Thursday that Jabbar has held an “employee-level position” since 2021.
“We are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing everything we can to assist the authorities in their investigation,” Deloitte added.
The U.S. Army said Jabbar served as a personnel and information technology specialist between 2007 and 2020. He was stationed in Afghanistan between February 2009 and January 2010.
The Army also confirmed that Livelsberger was a serving U.S. soldier. At the time of his death, the master sergeant was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and was on approved leave from duty in Germany. McMahill said Livelsberger was a Green Beret, a member of the U.S. Army’s elite special forces.
Both Livelsberger and Jabbar were stationed at Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty) in North Carolina, but there is no record of them serving there in the same unit or at the same time, McMahill said. There was also no evidence that they served together in Afghanistan, although investigators continue to look for a possible connection between the men.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington
