Latest Presser on Bourbon Street Attack: FBI Indicates Terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar Was Lone Wolf

Twenty-four hours after the Bourbon Street terrorist attack which left 15 dead (not including the perpetrator), and a number of people injured, several facts have been confirmed.

• The terrorist suspect has been identified as American citizen and military veteran Samshud-Din Jabbar. 
• Jabbar had been radicalized and pledged his allegiance to ISIS hours before the attack in New Orleans.
• Jabbar rented the Ford F-150 he used in the attack from an app called TURO.
• Jabbar’s terrorist attack on Bourbon Street appears to be connected to a fire at an AirBnb on Mandeville Street in New Orleans.

On Thursday morning, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry led another press conference with some new federal spokespersons: Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Division Christopher Raia and Special Agent in Charge of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) New Orleans Field Division Joshua Jackson. These department heads were given the lion’s share of the time. 

Noticeably absent from this podium: Superintendent of Police Anne Kirkpatrick and FBI Special Agent Alethea Duncan. After the contradictory information given by Special Agent Duncan, that the Bourbon Street attack was not terrorism, and also indicating that Jabbar may not have worked alone, and Superintendent Kirkpatrick’s troubling background[, neither law enforcement official instilled confidence; and confidence is the watchword for the day.

Gov. Landry opened the presser with his condolences for the victims of the “horrific event,” and their families. He then encouraged the public to consider the investigation into the attack as a jigsaw puzzle.

I also think that it’s important to remember that what happened yesterday was akin to those who are old enough to remember jigsaw puzzles. And that you take a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle and you empty the box, and you’ve gotta start sifting through those pieces, and you wanna start, if you’re real good you start at the corners, right? You try to put your corners together.

Landry equated the thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers to the individuals working to put the pieces together.

And from yesterday to today, over a thousand law enforcement agents and officers, men and women, have been pouring over countless amounts of data, of videos, of surveillances, interviews, tracking down every possible lead that came to us. Whether it was the New Orleans Police Department, the Louisiana State Police, the FBI, or other federal agencies. Also, yesterday, we declared, I issued an emergency declaration. That declaration was meant to streamline resources and communications between state, local, and federal partners. And we’re seeing the results of it. I also would like to remind everyone that what is going on in this city, in this state is twofold. We’ve got an active, criminal investigation going on. While we’re also continuing to secure the city in preparation for three o’clock kickoff time for the Sugar Bowl.

Thanks to the emergency declaration and the federal resources unleashed, heightened security, including bomb-sniffing canines, have been deployed ahead of the Sugar Bowl, and will be available through the Super Bowl. 

Landry concluded by saying:

With that, I also would remind those who are in the city, that as far as state resources are concerned, we have the Louisiana State Police, the Louisiana National Guard which is part of that emergency declaration which allowed us to put an entire empty company on the ground. Those become force multipliers is what we call that in law enforcement and the military, that helps to add to the resources that we have. Wildlife and Fisheries, the Department of Corrections, DSF, DHS, Veterans Affairs, our probation and parole. All state agencies, any state agency who has a post certifed officers are here in this city.

Landry then introduced Christopher Raia:

I am FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia. I’m at our Counter Terrorism Division at headquarters. I’m also joined by Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan, from our New Orleans office, who you heard from yesterday.

I’m here to discuss not only the latest investigative information we have here in New Orleans, but also to let you know about other investigative activities outside of the state.

Raia offered his condolences to the victims and their families. His next comment reflected a shift from the usual criticism lodged at the FBI: that they obfuscate and bury details that would give the public clarity.  

While I won’t be able to answer all your questions today, my goal is to be as forthcoming as possible with you on what we’ve uncovered so far.

With that goal toward transparency and being forthcoming, Raia offered some clarifying details on whether Jabbar acted alone, and why they are now investigating the Bourbon Street attack as an act of terrorism.

WATCH:

BREAKING: FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia insists “this was an act of terrorism,” a “premeditated and an evil act” by the suspect whom law enforcement now believes “do not assess at this point that anyone else involved in this attack is involved in this attack” pic.twitter.com/Zei3LOrpys

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 2, 2025

Raia reinforced Landry’s comments about the timeline and asked for consideration of this:

This investigation is only a little more than 24 hours, years old—24 hours old. So I ask you to keep that in mind, as I go through some of the specifics later.

Raia then gave a deep dive into the FBI’s role in the investigation:

A little bit about what the FBI’s doing. So, we are surging people and assets to the area from across the region and across the nation. Special agents in multiple field offices, across the country have been deployed, and are assisting with potential aspects of this investigation and following up on every lead.

Additional teams of special agents, professional staff, and victims specialists continue to arrive to provide more investigative power and assistance to the victims and their families.

We’ve also forward deployed a number of our critical incident response group assets, including members of our hostage rescue team, special agent bomb technicians, and crisis management coordinators. In addition, we have deployed more evidence response technicians to continue to process the various scenes that we have. 

So far, we have received just over 400 tips to the public and that information is being followed up both here in New Orleans and across the country. Some of the tips are here in New Orleans and there are other tips in other states across the country that we are following up on. The FBI team and our law enforcement partners here are also reviewing hundreds of hours of surveillance and other video from both the French Quarter and other locations.

Raia then outlined the timeline of the event and revealed that three phones and two laptops were connected to Jabbar. Raia also mentioned the Mandeville Street AirBnb, which caught fire around the timeline of the Bourbon Street attack.

We also have a scene off the Mandeville address, where we are currently searching that scene right now. FBI and ATF agents have secured that house and that location is being searched for potential evidence.

On New Year’s morning, Jabbar opened fire after ramming through a blocked off area of Bourbon Street, used his truck as a weapon to run over victims. Teams of specially trained victims specialist, again, as I said, are on the ground here in New Orleans, assisting the survivors of the attack and loved ones of the deceased.

We do not believe the public is in any danger around any of these locations.

Three phones linked to Jabbar have been recovered and digital media exploitation is a priority to see what is on the devices and determine if there are any other potential leads. Additionally, we have recovered two laptops and are currently reviewing them for any potential leads. Those laptops were recovered at the Mandeville address.

Raia addressed the two coolers found in the French Quarter, which contained IEDs. 

FBI bomb technicians also recovered two IEDs in coolers, one from the cross section of Bourbon and Orleans Street, and the second at an intersection approximately two blocks away. There were multiple reports of other devices, those reports turned out to be misinformation, or not actual functioning devices. Those are the only two devices that we’ve been able to recover that were functional.

Both devices were rendered safe on scene. We did obtain surveillance footage showing Jabbar placing the devices where they were found. As I said before, two other items of interest were determined not to be IEDs.

While Raia outlined the basic information known about Jabbar, he solicited additional help from anyone who knew or encountered Jabbar, and anyone who may have been in the French Quarter on New Year’s Eve. 

While we have interviewed many people who know Jabbar, we still need to talk to others. Whether you know Jabbar personally, worked with him, served in the military, or saw him in New Orleans or Texas, we need to talk to you. You may not think you have relevant information, but what you know could tie in to one of our investigative leads.

Specifically, we want to talk to anyone who was in the French Quarter on New Year’s Eve, or early on New Year’s Day. That includes people spotted near the two IEDs on Bourbon Street. The IED was inside a cooler, and many people stopped and looked at the cooler, then continued on their way.

Let’s be clear, again, we do not believe at this point these people are involved in this incident in any way. We want to speak to them as witnesses, and want to know what they saw and when.

Raia urged anyone with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or send digital tips to FBI.gov/BourbonStreetAttack. Raia mentioned the Las Vegas bomb at the Trump Hotel, but reiterated that at this time there was no link between this attack and the Bourbon Street Attack: 

As you know, there’s also an FBI investigation in Las Vegas. We are following up on all potential leads and not ruling everything out. However, at this point there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans, and the one in Las Vegas.

And again, I’ll preface as I close, I’ll preface everything with what I started with in the beginning; this is very early in an investigation like this. Again, our thoughts and prayers, our thoughts and our prayers are with the victims of this tragedy and everyone impacted across the country. They remain at the heart of our investigation. 

Raia introduced Joshua Jackson, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF New Orleans Field Division who announced that “ATF’s primary mission is preventing, reducing, and solving violent crime throughout the United States and abroad.”

In terms of the Bourbon Street attack, Jackson affirmed that the “solving part is the focus of this investigation,” and named all the teams being brought to bear in investigating not just the truck attack on Bourbon Street, but the fire at the Mandeville Street AirBnB:

ATF resources have been brought to bear to the city, and the focus with our federal, state, and local partners have been our national response team. We spoke about the scene that is still being processed now. The National Response Team of ATF is a team of certified fire investigators, certified explosive specialists, fire engineers, electrical engineers. These folks will give us additional investigative leads to help the investigative team identify what happened at the location in Mandeville and identify how that fire started and move the investigation forward from there. Additional resources that ATF has brought to bear into the city is the ATF Special Response Team. This is a tactical team capable of handling any sort of enforcement operation. This team is deployed, on set and ready for the Sugar Bowl today. This team has also been made available to the Louisiana State Police and also the New Orleans Police Department to assist with any efforts that they may have during this period.

Jackson also tied into the additional resources that ATF was able to deploy thanks to the emergency declaration signed by Gov. Jeff Landry. 

As the governor alluded to, he executed executive powers and had an emergency declared to where we’re able, where ATF is able to tap in Emergency Support Function 13 resources. This allowed us to bring in additional explosive detection canines so that we can safely sweep the city, and safely sweep the Sugar Bowl in preparation for the game today. These resources will still be in the city as we lead up to the Super Bowl and through Mardi Gras. These type of ATF resources will be here.

ATF also has the resource of victim witness coordinators, which Jackson feels is their most important aspect.

The last resources that ATF has brought to bear and probably the most important one: is our victim witness coordinators. These folks come in, and they provide resources to the victims and their family members that have suffered greatly during this tragedy. The entire city hurts, but the victims and the family members are in need of resources and care long after this investigation wraps up. This time next year it will be hard for the family and friends who suffered during this event. So our victim witness coordinators are working with the FBI, the City of New Orleans coordinators to provide resources to these folks out here. And as we move forward, ATF will be committed, we will work with the investigative team moving this investigation forward, but also will be here to make sure the city is safe and prepared as we move into the Super Bowl.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell concluded the press conference with thanks to the unified command of law enforcement and the assistance from Gov. Landry and his office. Mayor Cantrell spoke about the victims and their families, and how they deserve “reverence”:

The City of New Orleans, we’re resilient. And as I stated on yesterday, my focus in terms of a priority, has been on our victims. As you heard, yes, the FBI was able to clear Bourbon Street. And what that meant also, for me and this city, was that we were able to remove our victims, identify them, and notify their families. Real reverence. They mattered. The families matter, and matter to the City of New Orleans. In addition to that, I want to just thank, again, our federal partners in Washington listening to my plea, personally, for the additional resources to allow for the scene to be cleared and again, attending to our victims. I walked by each one, and I did the sign of the cross in my own way, because, again, reverence is important. 

Mayor Cantrell expressed that because of the partnership and resources of law enforcement, she felt confident in reopening Bourbon Street on Thursday: 

The confidence is there to reopen Bourbon Street to the public prior to game time today. The first order will be to allow for vendors to come in and service the businesses. That’s important in order for us to stand up activation, as you know, Governor. And so with that, I want to reassure the public that the City of New Orleans is not only ready for game day today,  but we’re ready to continue to host large-scale events in our city because we’re built to host at every single turn.

Gov. Landry closed out the press conference and opened the floor to questions with this message.

In closing I want to rest people’s assurance.  Right now in the City of New Orleans there is an unprecedented amount of law enforcement resources that are being utilized to close out and to hunt down and to finalize this investigation. I want to thank the FBI and all our federal partners for the amount of resources they have poured into this city. This type of event can happen in any city. And that’s the tragedy of it. And I think it’s important for people to understand that to protect our citizens in America from evil, you have to crush it. You can’t go out there and placate it, you can’t go out there and say, “Oh, I’m going to put this in place, and that in place,” and hope that evil doesn’t show up on your doorstep, ’cause it will. You have to crush it. And that’s what we’re going to do here. We’re going to put it all behind us.

This is a developing story. RedState will provide updates as warranted.

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