COPS are probing a possible link between the New Orleans rampage and the Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas, Joe Biden has revealed.
At least 15 people were killed early on New Year’s Day in Louisiana when an attacker ploughed his white pickup into revellers on the famed Bourbon Street before opening fire.
He was gunned down by cops but law enforcement said they believe the suspect may not have been working alone after an ISIS flag was found.
Just hours after the grim rampage a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas with Elon Musk claiming it was “terrorism” and that the events could be linked.
Biden said federal law enforcement was tracking the blast.
He revealed: “Law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating this as well, including whether there is any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans.
“Thus far there is nothing to report on that score for this time.”
Musk claimed the Cybertruck and the Ford used in the New Orleans attack had both been rented by the same company.
He posted on his X platform: “Appears likely to be an act of terrorism.
“Both this Cybertruck and the F-150 suicide bomb in New Orleans were rented from Turo. Perhaps they are linked in some way.”
Las Vegas cops confirmed they were also investigating any possible links between the two events, but said they believed the explosion was an “isolated incident”.
The FBI have named the suspect in the New Orleans attack as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar – a US citizen from Texas.
Jabbar is a US Army veteran and was wearing full body armour and armed with an assault rifle for the attack.
They do not believe he was solely responsible for the attack and have asked the public to come forward if they interacted with Jabbar recently.
Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge, said: “We’re aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”
The FBI said an ISIS flag was found attached to a white pipe sticking up from the hitch of the rented Ford pickup.
Biden said the suspect was “inspired by ISIS” and had posted videos to social media just hours before the attack.
Pipe bombs were found inside the car and concealed within coolers and were wired for remote detonation, a state police intelligence bulletin obtained by AP said.
Two other bombs were found in the French Quarter with one a pipe bomb with nails and plastic explosives hidden inside an ice chest, NOLA.com reports.
The remote that controlled two of the bombs was also found inside the suspect’s tract along with two mason jars with explosives.
The FBI said the 3am attack is being investigated as an “act of terrorism” and they are investigating Jabbar’s “associations and affiliations”.
Another flag also appeared to be attached to a pole on the back of the truck, a Ford F150 Lightning, and was covered by a jacket following the attack.
Police superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said the gunman drove the pick-up truck down Bourbon Street “at a very fast pace” and was “intentional” “trying to run over as many people as he possibly could”.
She said: “This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil.”
Kirkpatrick said he was able to swerve defences and drive down the street before he opened fire with an assault rifle and shot two police officers, who were rushed to hospital.
She said more than 400 officers were deployed in the city last night for festivities.
Jabbar had only converted to Islam within the last year and was “being all crazy” the new husband of his ex-wife said, the New York Times reports.
The suspect also had two daughters who have been left a “mess” after the attack.
A man who witnessed the horror in the city’s popular French Quarter at around 3.15am local time (9.15am GMT) said he saw an SUV “speeding and running people over”.
The FBI is also investigating whether the suspect was firing from the truck during the rampage.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell says the city has been impacted by a “terrorist attack” and urged residents to avoid the area.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Cantrell said victims were still lying on Bourbon street and their priority was removing the bodies.
Alethea Duncan, FBI assistant special agent in charge, said: “We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”
The death toll sat at 10 for most of Wednesday but rose to 15 after an update from New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna.
The identities of victims have begun to emerge following the tragedy with Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux named by her grieving mother.
Melissa Dedeaux said her 18-year-old daughter “was the sweetest person. She would give you anything, anything,” Nola reports.
Other victims have been named as dad-of-two Reggie Hunter, 37, and football player Tiger Bech, 27.
Who was Shamsud Din Jabbar?
THE man police suspect drove his car into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revellers in New Orleans was 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar.He is believed to have killed 15 people in what authorities are investigating as a terrorist attack before cops shot him dead.More details are emerging about the US Army veteran who was born and lived in Texas.Jabbar had a criminal history after being arrested in Katy, Texas, in 2002 for misdemeanor theft.He was also arrested in 2005 for driving without an invalid license.Documents viewed by The U.S. Sun confirmed Jabbar held a real estate license from 2019 until it expired in February 2021.In a YouTube video uploaded on May 12, 2020, Jabbar introduced himself as a Team Lead for the Midas Group and Property Manager at Blue Meadow Properties.He shared that he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, but was living in Houston at the time of the video.During his 10-year stint in the Army, Jabbar said he served as a human resources specialist and IT specialist from 2007 to 2015.He was deployed to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010.Between 2015 and 2020 he served in the Army Reserve as an IT specialist, the Army said.Jabbar is a dad to two daughters and had two previous wives.It’s unclear when his second divorce happened, but court files show that a restraining order was granted against him in 2020.The New York Times reported a court document that the suspect filed in August 2022 as part of a divorce proceeding said he worked at the accounting firm Deloitte and made about $120,000 a year.A ISIS flag was found in the truck by cops following the attack after it had been attached to a pole on the truck’s trailer hitch, the FBI said.Jabbar had only converted to Islam within the last year and was “being all crazy” the new husband of his ex-wife said, the New York Times reports.
The truck is registered to a man from Houston that is not Jabbar, the New York Times reports, and has Texas plates.
Vehicle sharing app Turo confirmed the truck had been rented through their site and they are now working with the FBI.
The FBI in Houston said that they are “conducting law enforcement activity” in the north of the city following the attack.
Video posted to social media showed the white truck driving with traffic before sharply turning right and speeding past police.
Jabbar drove onto a sidewalk to avoid a cop car blocking the road, bollards, and officers who were there protecting the public, Kirkpatrick said.
Some bollards were missing as they were being replaced ahead of February’s Super Bowl.
Kirkpatrick said: “So we did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it.”
When the truck stopped and Jabbar got out, three officers fired at and killed him.
Other cops working at the New Year celebrations bravely ran towards the gunfire while revellers desperately sprinted away.
Photos from after the attack show what appears to be a dark metallic jacket wrapped around the top of the flagpole, a but an earlier video showed the black flag hanging from it.
Witness Whit Davis said people started running and hiding under tables.
He told BBC: “We had been on and around Bourbon Street since the beginning of the evening.
“When we were in the bar we didn’t hear shooting or crashes because the music was so loud.”
Mr Davis said they were held in the bar by cops before being escorted out.
He said he was horrified to see “dead and injured bodies all over the street”.
Two of the injured have now been identified as Israeli citizens.
Kimberly Stricklin, visiting from Alabama for a concert with her husband, told CNN she saw the attack unfold.
She said: “The guy in the pickup truck just punched the gas and mowed over the barricade and hit pedicab passengers.
“There were just bodies and the screams. I mean, you can’t unhear that.
“It was chaos and very, very scary.”
The state’s senator John Kennedy said he would “raise fresh hell” if the crime wasn’t solved.
He said: “Catch these people and then tell the American people the truth.
“But after we get to the bottom of this, they need to tell the American people the truth, and the people in New Orleans the truth, and the people of America the truth.”
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13193937/dead-car-plows-new-years-eve-new-orleans/