Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout with the latest information from a news conference on Jan. 2.
The man suspected of crashing his pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street early Wednesday morning has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a resident of Texas, according to the FBI.
Officials said Jabbar, dressed in full military gear, drove a rented Ford pickup truck into a crowd at Bourbon and Canal streets around 3:15 a.m. At least 15 people, including the attacker, are dead and dozens were injured in the rampage.
The FBI is investigating the incident "as an act of terrorism."
Jim Mowrer, who was visiting from Iowa, said he and his wife narrowly avoided being hit by the truck and described the scene as chaotic.
“We saw bodies in the road, very clearly deceased,” Mowrer recalled.
Police said Jabbar was shot and killed while exchanging gunfire with New Orleans Police. Two officers were injured during the incident, but both are in stable condition.
On Thursday, the FBI confirmed that improvised explosive devices were found in and around the scene. But they now believe Jabbar acted alone, said Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counter-terrorism division.
“We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the subject you’ve already been briefed on," Raia said.
The FBI said an ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, but the terror group has not claimed responsibility for the attack. On Thursday, Raia said they do not believe the New Orleans attack is linked to the explosion outside of a Trump hotel in Nevada.
"We're 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," Raia said.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden also said Jabbar posted videos saying ISIS inspired him to kill in the hours before the attack. Raia said Thursday that Jabbar shared five videos on Facebook — time-stamped between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m., moments before the attack on Bourbon. In one of them, he said he initially planned to harm family and friends, but changed course, thinking that wouldn’t garner enough media attention.
He was “concerned the news headlines would not focus on the ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers,’” Raia said.
In another video, Jabbar said he joined ISIS before the summer, and Raia said he also provided a will and testament before the attack.
“He was 100% inspired by ISIS” Raia said.
Jabbar lived in northwest Houston, according to his driver’s license records. Reporters and police were at the home on Wednesday.
The white house was cut off from the street by a large, black iron gate. Ducks and sheep roamed the property. Police told reporters the scene was the site of an active investigation.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Greg Abbott is out of state, said Jabbar rented the truck used in the attack on Dec. 30 and was seen in Houston driving around in it before heading to New Orleans.
The local FBI office in Houston urged people to avoid the area where he lived, which has been cordoned off. By Thursday morning, the sweep of the area was completed.
Faisal Siddiqui, who lives in the Houston neighborhood, said he had not heard about the attack in New Orleans until informed by reporters.
“That’s very wrong and it’s a threat for us too and whoever it is, he need [sic] to get the punishment, ” he said. “I just heard about this too and I’m scared because I have kids at my home.”
Another neighbor said he did not know Jabbar by name but saw him around the neighborhood. He described Jabbar as quiet and their interactions as normal. In Spanish, he said the neighborhood is a largely Muslim community with no problems.
Jabbar started a handful of realty businesses in Texas, Secretary of State records show. Two of them went defunct within the last couple of years.
An Army spokesperson said Jabbar was in the regular Army as a Human Resource Specialist and Information Technology Specialist from March 2007 until January 2015. He then switched to the Army Reserve as an IT Specialist from January 2015 until July 2020.
He deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.
Jabbar held the rank of Staff Sergeant at the end of his service, the spokesperson said. A U.S. official who was not authorized to speak on the record about Jabbar said he had some “discipline problems,” a DUI on his record and was honorably discharged.
In a now-removed YouTube video for one of his businesses posted four years ago, Jabbar says he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and spent all his life in the state except for his time in the military. He said his 10 years in the military is “where I learned the meaning of great service and what it means to be responsive and take everything seriously, dotting i’s and crossing t’s, to make sure that things go off without a hitch.”
A Georgia State University spokesperson confirmed Jabbar attended the school from 2015 until 2017 and graduated with a B.B.A. in Computer Information Systems.
It’s unclear where Jabbar was staying in New Orleans, but local TV station WDSU reports he might have been linked to an Airbnb in the St. Roch area. There was a heavy police presence on Mandeville Street as the home was evacuated Wednesday.
Calls to the owner of the Mandeville Street property were not returned.
The attack has raised concerns about security for upcoming events, including the Super Bowl in February. The incident occurred just hours before the Allstate Sugar Bowl was set to be played Wednesday evening at the Caesars Superdome.
The game, set to be played between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Georgia Bulldogs, was postponed in the early afternoon.
New Orleans is also slated to host the Super Bowl on Feb. 9. Mardi Gras season, the city’s largest annual celebration, kicks off on Jan. 6 and culminates with Fat Tuesday on March 4.
NPR’s Tom Bowman and the Gulf States Newsroom's Orlando Flores Jr. contributed to this report.
