A man driving a pickup truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group wrought carnage in New Orleans’ during New Year’s celebrations, killing 15 people as he steered around a police blockade and slammed into revelers before being shot dead by police. The FBI said it was investigating the attack early on Wednesday as a terrorist act and does not believe the driver acted alone. Investigators found guns and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle, along with other devices elsewhere in the city’s famed French Quarter.
Here’s what we know:
The attacker, identified as 42-year-old Shimsud-Din Jabbar of Houston, Texas, managed to drive a rented white pickup truck between the 100 and 400 blocks of Bourbon Street in the lower part of the French Quarter, which was packed with people celebrating New Year’s Eve.
He was also firing a rifle from the truck while wearing body armor as well as a helmet, according to a law enforcement bulletin, and was flying the flag of the Islamic state (Isis) group mounted on a pipe erected in the bed of the vehicle. He exchanged gun fire with several police officers – wounding two of them – and was shot dead by the officers.
About 30 minutes after Jabbar was shot dead, investigators found a pipe bomb with nails and suspected C4 explosives inside an ice chest left near police patrol cars at the corner of Bourbon and Orleans streets, roughly three blocks from where the attack ended.
The bulletin said surveillance camera footage showed three men and a woman planted that device. But CNN later reported that investigators have since ruled out those people as having anything to do with planting the devices.
A second such device was found about a block away from where the first one had been found. Investigators spotted a third such possible device in a purple suitcase near the corner of North Rampart Street and Esplanade Avenue, toward the upper edge of the French Quarter.
Two of those devices had been confirmed as pipe bombs concealed within coolers and were wired for remote detonation, the bulletin said. Investigators discovered a corresponding remote in Jabbar’s truck, which also had mason jars containing a clear liquid consistent with explosives in his truck.
Officers determined a fourth possible device was not explosive.
Investigators learned Jabbar was staying at a short-term rental in New Orleans’ St Roch neighborhood, about two miles from the French Quarter. They arrived to find the place had been intentionally set on fire, and – after firefighters brought the blaze under control – discovered bomb-making materials in the home.
The Houston news station KPRC2 reported capturing drone video showing a man at a home connected to Jabbar there surrendering to authorities. Earlier, the FBI said agents in Houston were “conducting law enforcement activity” at an area in the north part of the city in connection with the attack in New Orleans.
Jabbar said in a promotional video for one of his businesses that he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas.
He served in the US army for 13 years, where he served as a human resource specialist and information technology specialist from 2007 until 2015. He then joined the army reserve as an IT specialist until 2020, holding the rank of staff sergeant at the end of service, according to an army official. He deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.
In addition to serving in the army, Jabbar had previously enlisted in the navy in August 2004 under a delayed entry program but was discharged a month later.
Jabbar graduated with a computer information systems degree from Georgia State University after studying there from 2015 to 2017, school officials told Atlanta News First. Corporate records show that Jabbar got involved in a series of real estate businesses in recent years.
The consulting firm Deloitte issued a statement saying Jabbar had “served in a staff-level role” there since being hired in 2021.
“We are shocked to learn of reports today that the individual identified as a suspect had any association with our firm,” Deloitte’s statement said. “Like everyone, we are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing all we can to assist authorities in their investigation.”
The New York Times reported Jabbar was twice divorced. Dwayne Marsh, the new husband of Jabbar’s second ex-wife, Nakedra Charrlle, said Jabbar had converted to Islam at some point. More recently, Jabbar’s behaviour had become erratic, he said, prompting the couple to stop allowing Jabbar to spend time with the daughters he shared with Charrlle.
Federal officials and local law enforcement in New Orleans have said that Jabbar did not act alone and that they are looking for accomplices.
The bulletin said surveillance camera footage showed three men and a woman planting one of the explosive devices. But CNN later reported that investigators had since ruled out those people as having anything to do with planting the devices.
Meanwhile, a second car near the attack is drawing focus. Security cameras owned by New Orleans’ city government identified one car in particular was following the truck with which Jabbar carried out the attack, according to the intelligence bulletin. The bulletin said both the truck and that second car share a link: each was owned by a Texas resident who previously lived in the New Orleans suburb of Harvey, and both were rented out. Police descended on the owner’s address in Harvey but did not find him there, the bulletin said. ABC News reported speaking to the owner, who described having spoken with the FBI.
The attack claimed the lives of at least 15 people, according to the New Orleans coroner, and injured more than 30 others.
Local media in New Orleans identified the first known fatalities of the attack as Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, 18, who had traveled to New Orleans from nearby Gulfport, Mississippi, with a cousin and a friend; Reggie Hunter, a 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Tiger Bech, a 27-year-old Lafayette, Louisiana, native and former football player. A fourth victim was named as Nicole Perez, a 28-year-old mother and delicatessen manager from Metairie, Louisiana, who was celebrating the new year with friends.
