The driver behind the deadly New Year’s terrorist attack in New Orleans posted videos online proclaiming his support for the Islamic State terrorist group before he rammed his truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street, killing at least 14, the FBI said Thursday.
As Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, made his way to Louisiana from his home in Texas on New Year’s Eve, he gave his social media followers a glimpse of his violent plan and radical thinking, Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, said at a briefing.
According to Raia, Jabbar said in a series of Facebook videos posted shortly before the attack that he had originally planned to hurt his family and friends but pivoted when he grew concerned that news headlines would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers.”
“This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act,” Raia said, adding that Jabbar acted alone. “He was 100% inspired by ISIS.”
Investigators believe Jabbar, an Army veteran, picked up his rented white Ford truck in Houston on Monday and headed for New Orleans the next evening.
In the hours before the attack, he posted