> FBI says driver in New Orleans rampage acted alone, was '100%' inspired by Islamic State group
FBI says driver in New Orleans rampage acted alone, was '100%' inspired by Islamic State group
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The Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans acted alone, the FBI said Thursday, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others in the deadly attack that officials said was inspired by the Islamic State group.
The FBI also revealed that the driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an American citizen from Texas, posted five videos on his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he proclaimed his support for the militant group and previewed the violence that he would soon unleash in the famed French Quarter district.
“This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act,” said Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division, calling Jabbar “100% inspired” by the Islamic State.
The attack along Bourbon Street killed 14 revelers, along with Jabbar, who was fatally shot in a firefight with police after steering his speeding truck around a barricade and plowing into the crowd.
It was the deadliest IS-inspired assault on U.S. soil in years, laying bare what federal officials have warned is a resurgent international terrorism threat. It also comes as the FBI and other agencies brace for dramatic leadership upheaval — and likely policy changes — after President-elect Donald Trump's administration takes office.
Seeking to assuage concerns about any broader plots, Raia stressed that there was no indication of a connection between the New Orleans attack and the explosion Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck filled with explosives outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel. The person inside that truck, a decorated U.S. Army Green Beret, sustained a gunshot wound to the head before the explosion, and a handgun was found at his feet inside the charred vehicle, authorities said.
MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/nation-world/bourbon-street-new-orleans-attack-fbi-investigation-updates-thursday/507-056d77ae-d4ce-4040-b861-72725f164c31