Suspect in new orleans acted alone ‘no definitive link’ to las vegas cybertruck explosion fbi

Suspect in new orleans acted alone ‘no definitive link’ to las vegas cybertruck explosion fbi

In a reversal from yesterday, FBI on Thursday said that law enforcement is “confident” the suspect who drove a truck into a crowd of New Year’s Day revelers in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, acted ‘alone’, while maintaining that Jabbar “was 100% inspired by ISIS.”

FBI counter-terrorism official Christopher Raia addressing media added that the agency was investigating the suspect’s apparent interest in the Islamic State, earlier on Wednesday officials had said they were looking into the possibility that the suspect, Jabbar, had coordinated with others.

Raia also said that there appeared to be no link between the attack in New Orleans and that in Las Vegas on the same day in which a Tesla Cybertruck packed with gasoline canisters and large firework mortars exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House on Jan. 20.

“At this point there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” said Raia, adding that the investigation was in its earliest stages.

During the press conference, Raia said the suspect in New Orleans declared his affiliation with the Islamic State on social media.

“This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act,” Raia, told reporters adding that surveillance footage showed the suspect placing two explosive devices at the scene.

Jabbar, who was shot dead at the scene after firing at police, once served in Afghanistan. He drove from Houston to New Orleans on Dec. 31, and posted five videos on Facebook between 1:29 am and 3:02 am on the morning of the attack in which he said he supported IS, the Islamic militant group with fighters in Iraq and Syria, the FBI said.