Thursday the FBI claimed Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the Houston man behind the New Year's Day terror attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, acted alone. The 42-year-old Army veteran killed 14 people and injured dozens more when he drove a rented pickup truck into a throng in the French Quarter before launching gunfire on arriving police.
FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia confirmed Jabbar had no friends. Jabbar leased the truck in Houston on December 30 and left New Orleans New Year's Eve. He uploaded several movies to an online site committing allegiance to ISIS and revealing his goals between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m.
In the tapes, Jabbar claimed that although at initially he considered harming his family and friends, he sought more media coverage for what he saw to be a "war between the believers and atheists." Declaring his participation in ISIS, he also stated his intention to cause extensive damage and released a will.
About 3:15 a.m., Jabbar broke across the barriers of Bourbon Street, charging into a mob. He fell, then started shooting cops, wounded two before dying at the scene.
Two functional improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were found nearby in coolers, so increasing the focus on his radicalization.
Emphasizing Jabbar's goal to maximize victims, FBI officials said, "this was a premeditated and evil act." "Hellbent on creating carnage.”
New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick further confirmed the said conclusion.
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