New Orleans latest: FBI concerned about copycat attacks after 14 killed on Bourbon Street
The agency believes ‘ISIS-inspired’ New Orleans attacker acted alone and has ‘no definitive link’ to the Las Vegas Cybertruck blast driver Matthew Livelsberger
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Your support makes all the difference.U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies are reportedly concerned about copycat vehicle-ramming attacks following the attack in New Orleans, which killed 14 innoncent people and injured dozens more.
The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center “are concerned about possible copycat or retaliatory attacks,” according to a bulletin seen by Reuters.
Such attacks “are likely to remain attractive for aspiring assailants given vehicles’ ease of acquisition and the low skill threshold necessary to conduct an attack”, the bulletin said.
It comes as the brother of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the man behind the harrowing New Year’s Day attack, blamed radicalization for his sibling’s actions.
Abdur Rahim-Jabbar, 24, who along with his brother was raised Muslim, told Fox News that he did not previously spot any signs of someone who was hatching a deadly plot.
The 42-year-old attacker – a U.S. citizen from Houston, Texas, and Army veteran – caused mayhem after ramming a truck into a crowd of revellers on Bourbon Street before being shot dead by police on Wednesday morning.
On Friday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are expected to visit New Orleans on Monday.
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Amazon worker injured in New Orleans attack denied time off from work to recover
An Amazon worker who was among the dozens of victims injured in the New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street says that the retail giant refused her request for time off so that she could recover.
Alexis Scott-Windham, 23, was shot and had her foot run over by Shamsud-Din Jabbar as she tried to get out of the way of his speeding vehicle.
According to NOLA.com, Scott-Windham needs to return to an orthopedist in two weeks to check on her foot, but the Amazon warehouse where she works denied her request for a leave of absence.
She worries she'll have to find a new job once she's recovered. "Other than that, I'm just thankful to be here," Scott-Windham told the outlet. "I just want to tell my story to everybody. I don't want to take life for granted. It's really opened my eyes."
Turo CEO ‘outraged’ by abuse of car-rental platform
The CEO of car-rental company Turo – where both Shamsud-Din Jabbar and Matthew Livelsberger rented their vehicles – says he is “outraged” by the abuse of the platform.
In an updated statement on Friday, Andre Haddad said the company had spent “tense, mournful hours” assisting law enforcement with their investigations and “working around the clock to figure out how our platform could be misused by the perpetrators of such atrocities.”
“Thinking about the victims and their families, I’m shocked, saddened, and, more than anything else, just simply heartbroken. Their stories are crushing. Their loss is unfathomable and unfair,” he said. “Thinking about how egregiously the two individuals who perpetrated these heinous crimes abused our platform, I’m outraged.”
New Orleans Council to run ‘deep dive investiagtion’ into missing Bourbon Street bollards
The New Orleans City Council is set to do a “deep-dive investigation” into why the security bollards on Bourbon Street were missing the morning of the attack.
“We have had some contradictory messages internally as far as when the work was awarded and when it should have started, and I know from my perspective as the incoming Council president, we are going to do our own deep-dive investigation over the coming weeks to go into that,” Councilman JP Morrell told CNN on Friday morning.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s former commanding officer speaks out about New Orleans’ attacker’s radicalization
The former commanding officer of New Orleans’ attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar has spoken out on social media about the soldiers’ disturbing radicalization.
Jabbar, 42, from Houston, killed 14 people and injured 35 others in the early hours of Wednesday morning after he rammed a truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street before being shot dead by police.
Col. Richard Groen, his former commanding officer, explained in an X post Thursday that Jabbar had “served under [his] Troop Command during our deployment to Afghanistan.”
Madeline Sherratt has the story.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s former commanding officer speaks out on attacker
Col. Richard Groen described how the attack served as ‘a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked anger, isolation, and hate’
Watch live: View of New Orleans' Bourbon Street after deadly truck attack
Allstate CEO Tom Wilson faces fury following bizarre Sugar Bowl ad in wake of attack
ICYMI: Key points from Louisiana governor’s press conference in wake of attack
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, along with officials from the FBI, ATF and the New Orleans mayor, held a press conference on Thursday – a day after the horror attack on Bourbon street that left 15 dead including the assailant, Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
Landry said that over 1,000 law enforcement agents and officers have been deployed in the investigation. He added that he considers New Orleans to be one of the safest cities on Earth, before urging patience and stating he hopes to deliver a timeline of events by early next week.
Christopher Raia, Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counter Terrorist Division, denounced the “premeditated and an evil act,” confirming it was an “act of terrorism”. He said that, currently, the bureau believes Jabbar acted alone.
Raia added that Jabbar claimed to have joined ISIS in the summer. The attacker also released several videos online in the early hours of New Years Day pertaining to foment a war between “believers and the disbelievers”. He said that there is “no definitive link” between the New Orleans attack and Las Vegas Tesla Cybertruck explosion.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said that the FBI was able to clear Bourbon Street by Thursday morning. She added that law enforcement officers were able to “remove our victims, identify them and notify their families”.
In photos: Locals and visitors mourn for Bourbon Street victims post-Sugar Bowl
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