Investigators look at 'very strange similarities' in New Orleans, Las Vegas attacks

They were soldiers in the Army. They served on the same North Carolina military base and both did tours in Afghanistan. They both rented electric trucks from the same company.

Then they used the vehicles to commit shocking attacks on either side of the country.

But federal investigators say there is no known link between the two suspects in the deadly New Year's attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, nor a connection between the events, which occurred within hours of each other.

Authorities emphasized both investigations are ongoing.

"At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas," Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, said Thursday.

In Nevada, Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the parallels between the two events are "very strange similarities to have."

"We're not prepared to rule in or rule out anything at this point," McMahill said Thursday.

In New Orleans, the FBI identified the driver of the Bourbon Street rampage that killed 14 people and injured 35 others as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar. Police fatally shot Jabbar after he allegedly shot at police.

In Las Vegas, authorities identified the driver of the Tesla cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel as 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger. He was the sole casualty of the explosion and is believed to have shot himself before the vehicle blew up, authorities said.

Both men served in the Army at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when more than 100,000 U.S. troops had deployed to war zones.

Jabbar enlisted in 2007 and was deployed to Afghanistan from Feb. 2009 until Jan. 2015, according to the Army and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Livelsberger was an active-duty Green Beret who had served in the Army for 19 years. He had been deployed to Afghanistan from September 2017 to April 2018.

Both men were posted to the military base formerly known as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, authorities said.

Both Jabbar and Livelsberger used Turo, a car-sharing app to rent the vehicles they allegedly used in the attacks early Wednesday.

More: Without evidence, Trump blames Biden 'open borders' for 'radical Islamic terrorism'

They both used explosives in their attacks, officials said. Jabbar first left two coolers holding home-made bombs on Bourbon Street, which didn't detonate, before plowing into revelers with his rented 2-ton F-150. Livelsberger's rented Tesla was loaded with gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars, authorities said.

But there was no public indication the two ever met. And, while Jabbar made his intentions clear in a handful of videos published before his attack, stating he was inspired by the terror group ISIS, the FBI said Livelsbergers' motive remained a mystery Thursday afternoon.

President Joe Biden addressed the similarities between the two attacks.

"We're also continuing to investigate whether or not there's any connection between the New Orleans attack and the explosion in Las Vegas," he said Thursday. "As of now, as of now, I have just been briefed, they have not found any evidence of such a connection thus far.

"I've directed them to keep looking," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Strange similarities' in New Orleans, Las Vegas attacks probed by FBI