More details of the terrorist attack in New Orleans have emerged, including the fact that the local FBI team finally admitted it was terrorism. The deceased perp has been identified as a US-born citizen named Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who resided in Houston before dying in the attack. The black flag on the truck did turn out to be an ISIS flag, and at least one active IED has been found and detonated.
Most importantly, though, the FBI not only believes Jabbar intended to kill as many people as possible in this terror attack, but they also believe he had help. Spokesperson Alathea Duncan, the Special Agent that initially declared that the attack wasn’t terrorism, appealed to citizens to contact law enforcement if they know of or saw any of Jabbar’s activities the last few days:
The FBI said it does not believe Shamsud Din Jabbar was “solely responsible” for the Bourbon Street attack and asked for the public’s assistance.
“We’re aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates,” said Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office.
“That’s why we need the public’s help. We’re asking if anybody has any interactions with Shamsud Din Jabbar in the last 72 hours that you contact us,” she said at an afternoon news conference. “The FBI is asking the public’s help. We’re asking anyone who has information, video or pictures to provide it to the FBI.”
That’s not just speculation either. According to a bulletin that went out to state and local law enforcement, video has emerged of four people placing the bomb connected to the car attack:
Investigators have reviewed video showing three men and a woman placing an improvised explosive device in connection with the car attack that killed at least 10 people in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
That’s according to a Louisiana State Police bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.
The revelation could help explain why officials at a Wednesday news conference said that they were aggressively hunting for additional suspects and did not believe the driver of the pickup truck, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, acted alone.
Indeed that might explain it, and it’s a good thing we have that info because the FBI’s actions thus far are otherwise inexplicable. Perhaps the public should insist that the FBI seek help — starting with Duncan. How could she have declared initially that the FBI didn’t consider this a terror attack if Jabbar’s truck flew the ISIS flag, as they now acknowledge? Investigators would have seen that immediately, and did, which is likely why local police and Mayor LaToya Cantrell insisted that it was a terror-related mass murder. For most law enforcement agencies that aren’t obsessed with DEI and wokeness, an ISIS flag on a truck that drove into a crowd of pedestrians would be considered a large f****** clue. And now it turns out that this might not just be lone-wolf terrorism but the work of a cell of some kind.
Why is Duncan still talking to the press? Why hasn’t Christopher Wray relieved her of duty and assigned that task to someone competent and credible?
Wray had better prepare to answer those questions ASAP, because Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) made it clear today that he wants scalps over this fiasco. He didn’t explicitly accuse anyone of outright lying, but Kennedy’s praise for the governor and mayor left the FBI pointedly outside that assessment. In fact, Kennedy made clear that the targets of his ire will be federal law enforcement:
Here’s what I want to ask from the federal government: Catch these people,” Sen. John Kennedy said after a man intentionally drove a truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. The FBI says they do not believe the attacker acted alone and are looking into… pic.twitter.com/yi8e6N6L7S
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 1, 2025
I will promise you this: When it is appropriate and this investigation is complete, you will find out what happened and who was responsible — or I will raise fresh hell. And I will chase those in the federal government who are responsible for telling us what happened like they stole Christmas.
Let’s hope that happens soon. Wray plans to resign before Donald Trump takes office to avoid being fired. So far, he seems to be trying to demonstrate why Trump had the right idea.
Other developments:
- The Sugar Bowl football game scheduled for tonight in the college playoff between Notre Dame and Georgia has been pushed back to tomorrow night. That’s a smart move, but it may cause some issues with the NFL, whose Thursday night game will now compete against it. UPDATE: There is no Thursday night game scheduled this week, so this isn’t a problem — and even if it were, it would be a lowest-possible-priority issue anyway.
- The FBI has also declared that there are no other IEDs other than the two initially reported.
- Jabbar rented the truck through the Turo app; Turo is fully cooperating in the investigation.
- The city had been repairing the barricade system designed to prevent such attacks; the suspect drove around police cars meant as temporary measures during the repairs. No word yet on whether the suspect knew this or just got lucky.
- A Tesla cybertruck exploded outside the Trump resort in Las Vegas this morning. There’s no word yet on any connection to the New Orleans attack. However, it might have been a spontaneous combustion of the battery system, or some other kind of politically motivated terror attack unconnected to Jabbar. It does seem very coincidental that one of Elon Musk’s vehicles would just accidentally explode while at the door of a Trump resort, but … better to wait for details than to jump to conclusions.
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