Joe Biden said suspect in attack that also injured at least 30 expressed a \u2018desire to kill\u2019 in videos<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least 15 people have been killed and more than 30 injured after a vehicle flying an Islamic State (IS) flag <\/strong>drove into a crowd in New Orleans\u2019 tourist district in the early hours of New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FBI said Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen from Texas, drove a Ford pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on New Orleans\u2019 famous Bourbon Street at about 3.15am. He then got out and fired bullets at police \u2013 injuring two \u2013 before they shot him to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jabbar\u2019s truck appeared to have been rented, and agents were working to verify how he came to possess it, the FBI said. In addition to an Islamic State flag in the back, agents found weapons as well as a \u201cpotential\u201d improvised explosive device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At least two improvised explosive devices were planted relatively nearby but did not detonate, according to information in a bulletin distributed to senior law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In brief remarks on Wednesday evening, Joe Biden said the FBI had found that \u201cmere hours before the attack\u201d the suspect \u201cposted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by Isis, expressing a desire to kill\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden said the investigation was still in a preliminary stage and that the situation was \u201cfluid\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden said law enforcement was continuing to look for any connections, associations or co-conspirators. He said investigators were also probing the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck<\/a> outside Donald Trump\u2019s hotel in Las Vegas and whether there was any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier on Wednesday, the FBI said it was \u201cworking with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New Orleans police superintendent, Anne Kirkpatrick, said in a news conference on Wednesday morning: \u201cIt was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. He was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The attacker managed to drive his white pickup truck between the 100 and 400 blocks of Bourbon Street in the lower part of the French Quarter<\/a>, which was packed with people celebrating New Year\u2019s Eve. The area is a popular nightlife destination that attracts tourists and locals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After driving the truck into the crowd, the attacker fired a rifle from the vehicle while wearing body armor as well as a helmet. He later jumped out of the truck and fired on police, according to the bulletin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bulletin said that about 30 minutes after the suspect 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A second device was found about a block away from the first. Investigators spotted a third possible device in a purple suitcase near the corner of North Rampart Street and Esplanade Avenue, toward the upper edge of the French Quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two of the devices have been confirmed as pipe bombs concealed within coolers that were wired for remote detonation, the bulletin said. Investigators discovered a corresponding remote in Jabbar\u2019s truck, which also had mason jars containing a clear liquid consistent with explosives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officers determined a fourth possible device was not explosive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A short-term rental home linked to Jabbar \u2013 in New Orleans\u2019s St Roch neighborhood, less than two miles from the scene of the attack \u2013 was on fire on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officers arrived to find the home had been intentionally set on fire, the bulletin said, and \u2013 after firefighters brought the blaze under control \u2013 discovered bomb-making materials there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Louisiana\u2019s attorney general, Liz Murrill, told<\/a> NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt that \u201cthese individuals [who] had rented the house were using it for that purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FBI said on Wednesday it did not believe Jabbar was \u201csolely responsible\u201d for the deadly attack and asked the public for help in tracking down associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bulletin said surveillance camera footage showed three men and a woman planting one of the explosive devices. But CNN later reported<\/a> that investigators had since ruled out those people as having anything to do with planting the devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, a second car near the attack is drawing focus. Security cameras owned by New Orleans\u2019 city government identified one car in particular that 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 shared 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Houston news station KPRC2 reported<\/a> drone video showing a man at a home connected to Jabbar surrendering to authorities. Earlier, the FBI said agents in Houston were \u201cconducting law enforcement activity\u201d at an area in the north part of the city in connection with the attack in New Orleans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jabbar served in the US army for 13 years, according to army officials<\/a>. He was a human resource specialist and information technology specialist from 2007 until 2015. He then joined the army reserve as an IT specialist where he served until 2020, including as a staff sergeant, an army official said. He also deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In August 2004, before his army service, Jabbar enlisted in the navy, but he was discharged a month later, a navy official told Reuters. NBC reported<\/a> that he did not attend recruit training in the navy and thus did not serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a a social media video touting a real estate business for which he worked after the military, Jabbar recounted how he had grown up in Beaumont, Texas \u2013 about an hour east of Houston \u2013 and had remained there most of his life until he joined the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the footage, he said his military experience enabled him to be \u201ca fierce negotiator\u201d for his real estate clients, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Online Texas criminal court records show Jabbar had relatively minor offenses in his past, including a misdemeanor theft and driving with an invalid license before his military service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New York Times reported<\/a> he was twice divorced. And in 2022, during the second divorce, he reportedly wrote an email complaining that he needed to settle the divorce because he could not afford to make his house payment otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Times reported speaking to the new husband of Jabbar\u2019s second ex-wife, Nakedra Charrlle. Charrlle\u2019s husband, Dwayne Marsh, said Jabbar \u2013 who had two daughters with Charrlle \u2013 had converted to Islam at some point and more recently started acting \u201call crazy, cutting his hair\u201d. Marsh said he and Charrlle eventually stopped allowing her daughters \u2013 ages 15 and 20 \u2013 to spend time with Jabbar and that each of them were \u201ca mess\u201d after the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an evening update, the New Orleans coroner said the death toll from Wednesday\u2019s attack stood at at least 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Local media identified the first known fatalities 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>, a 28-year-old mother and delicatessen manager from Metairie, Louisiana, who was celebrating the new year with friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New Orleans police chief said the two police officers who had been shot were in stable condition at New Orleans\u2019 University medical center. The police chief said most of the injured were believed to be local residents, and not visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the sun began to rise over the city on New Year\u2019s Day, law enforcement from a number of agencies had swarmed across the city\u2019s French Quarter. Much of Bourbon Street was blocked off as police checked the area for secondary devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n