Law enforcement concerned over copycat vehicle attacks; Biden to visit New Orleans
Authorities expressed concern over copycat attacks involving vehicles after the New Year's Day rampage in which an Army veteran drove a speeding truck into a crowd of people in the French Quarter of New Orleans, multiple outlets reported.
The bulletin, issued by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, urged law enforcement agencies across the country "to remain vigilant of potential copycat or retaliatory attacks inspired by this attack and other recent, lethal vehicle-ramming incidents across the globe," Reuters and ABC News reported.
Authorities say 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas-born U.S. citizen, maneuvered a rented pickup around a police barricade and plowed into revelers on Bourbon Street before he died in a shootout with law enforcement. Fourteen people were killed and about 30 others were injured.
The FBI said Jabbar acted alone and had posted videos to social media in which he pledged his allegiance to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS. Investigators are working to learn more about Jabbar's "path to radicalization," according to the FBI.
Vehicle-based attacks have become one of the deadliest forms of terror assaults worldwide, killing and injuring thousands of people internationally since they began becoming more frequent after the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, a doctor from Saudi Arabia drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Germany, killing five people and injuring over 200.
Cheap and deadly: Why vehicle terror attacks like the Bourbon Street ramming are on the rise
FBI discovers 'precursor chemicals' at Houston area home
Investigators have found "precursor chemicals” at a home in Houston, Texas, believed to be connected to Jabbar, the FBI confirmed in a statement to USA TODAY.
The FBI field office in New Orleans said agents in Houston were at the house on Friday "for additional court authorized activities."
It was their most recent search of the home. In a statement Thursday morning, the FBI said investigators had concluded "a court-authorized search and cleared" the residence, noting "there is no threat to residents in that area."
Officials said Jabbar concealed two explosive devices inside ice coolers and placed them along Bourbon Street before he drove through the crowd. A remote detonator was discovered inside the rented truck. The improvised explosives, which didn't go off, were cleared from the scene within hours of the deadly attack.
Suspect apparently made silencer for rifle, feds say
Federal authorities also found bomb-making materials and what appeared to be a privately made silencer for a rifle in a New Orleans home Jabbar had rented.
Jabbar rented the short-term rental on Mandeville Street and was the only one who could have been there when a fire was started on Jan. 1, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The New Orleans Fire Department responded to a fire at the home at 5:18 a.m. CST, a couple of hours after the truck attack that left 14 people dead, along with the driver. The fire was merely smoldering at that time.
Jabbar appeared to have set a small fire in a hallway and placed accelerants throughout the house to destroy evidence, according to ATF investigators. But the fire extinguished itself before spreading to other rooms, so investigators were able to retrieve the bomb-making materials and apparent silencer.
The FBI also determined that Jabbar intended to use a transmitter found in the Ford pickup truck he rented for the attack to detonate two improvised explosive devices found along Bourbon Street. The FBI is continuing to analyze the transmitter and two firearms connected to Jabbar.
More than 200 investigators have surged to New Orleans to help FBI agents already stationed there. Investigators have received nearly 1,000 tips and are continuing to evaluate terabytes of video and other data collected by street cameras monitored by the New Orleans Real Time Crime Center.
- Bart Jansen
Joe Biden, first lady to travel to New Orleans next week
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to New Orleans on Monday to grieve with families and community members impacted by the terror attack that killed 14 people on New Year's Day, the White House announced Friday.
The president will meet with officials on the ground, according to the White House. More information will be released ahead of the trip.
The president on Thursday convened a meeting with Homeland Security officials in the White House Situation Room to receive an update into the investigation. At a news conference after the meeting, Biden reiterated that Jabbar appears to have acted alone and there's no apparent link between the mass killing in New Orleans and the Cybertruck explosion in Last Vegas.
“I directed my team to accelerate these investigations so we have answers to our unanswered questions and making every single resource available to get the job done,” Biden said. “And we're going to share the facts as soon as I learn them so the American public don't have to wonder.”
More: President Biden to visit New Orleans following deadly Bourbon Street truck attack
– Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
'I was back in combat': Veteran recalls carnage on Bourbon Street
Jim Mowrer and his wife, Nicole, were enjoying the sights and sounds of New Year's celebrations in the French Quarter when tragedy struck early Wednesday morning.
As they were walking back to their hotel around 3:15 a.m., they heard tires squealing, banging and the gunning of a truck engine nearby, Mowrer said. The truck accelerated as it barreled through the crowd and passed near the couple. People screamed and rushed to safety. Then the shooting began.
Mowrer said he had his wife lay low on the ground as the sound of gunfire rang out through the streets. After the shooting subsided, the couple saw people lying on the streets. Mowrer, an Iraq veteran, took off his belt to use as a tourniquet for anyone who was bleeding out. The couple checked on six people on the ground nearby, hoping they could help them – but all were lifeless bodies.
“For me it felt like all of a sudden I was back in combat, which is unfortunate, because when you’re in a war you kind of expect that, but when you’re out on New Year's Eve with your wife and enjoying all these happy festivities in a nice peaceful place – it’s just unfortunate in a split second it can change,” Mowrer said.
– José Mendiola, Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network
In a war. On Bourbon Street. A veteran details the chaos, death he saw in New Orleans
Bourbon Street reopens, mourners set up makeshift memorials
Street performers and buzzing crowds returned to Bourbon Street on Thursday after police reopened it hours before the Sugar Bowl, which was delayed a day and was expected to draw 70,000 fans to the nearby Superdome.
The only trace of the carnage that unfolded New Year's Day was a few makeshift memorials with candles and flowers on Bourbon and Canal Streets.
Sherry Powell, a longtime French Quarter resident who lives a block off Bourbon Street, said she's still in shock over the mass killing and worries how it will affect tourism, which accounts for half of the city's sales tax.
"I think we're still trying to process it all," said Powell. "It boggles the mind. I'm gobsmacked."
What we know so far about the victims
Authorities in New Orleans have not named any of the victims killed in the New Year's attack but family and friends have begun to publicly identify and mourn their loved ones. Among the 14 people killed as they were celebrating New Year's on Bourbon Street was a recent high school graduate, a former Princeton football player and a father of two.
Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux was killed just before she was supposed to start a nursing program in January, her mother, Melissa Dedeaux, told USA TODAY. She said her 18-year-old daughter, who recently graduated from high school, was "outgoing, very smart girl" who often helped care for her 1-year-old sister.
Former Princeton University football player Martin "Tiger" Bech was killed in the New Orleans truck attack, his brother, Jack Bech, confirmed on social media. Tiger Bech, 28, was a sociology major and All-Ivy League performer, spending three seasons at Princeton from 2016-18.
Reggie Hunter, 37, died from his injuries, and his cousin suffered extensive injuries in the rampage, family members told USA TODAY. Hunter's sister, Arteshia Hunter, said the pair "usually do everything together" and were walking to their car when the attack occurred.
She remembers Hunter, the oldest of four siblings, as jokester who "really, really, really loved" his two sons, ages 1 and 11.
Heartbreaking losses: Here are the victims of the New Orleans truck attack
No 'definitive link' between New Orleans attack, Cybertruck explosion
Law enforcement officials said there is no link between the attack in New Orleans and the intentional explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck parked outside Trump Hotel International in Las Vegas, which injured several people. The driver of the Cybertruck, a Green Beret on active duty, fatally shot himself before the explosion.
"At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas," Raia said Thursday.
The man found in the Cybertruck Matthew Livelsberger and Jabbar were both soldiers in the Army who had tours in Afghanistan and served at the North Carolina base that was formerly Fort Bragg. They both also used the same car rental application, Turo, to obtain the vehicles they used in the respective attacks.
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."
(This story was updated to add additional information.)
Contributing: Lauren Villagran, John Bacon, Jorge L. Ortiz, Joey Garrison, Josh Meyer, Trevor Hughes and Bart Jansen
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Authorities concerned over copycat attacks after New Orleans rampage