The suspect was named as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was killed in a firefight with police. The FBI says he may have had help.
The FBI has identified the suspect who carried out an attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day that left at least 10 dead and dozens more injured.
The individual has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen who lived in Texas, according to the FBI in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon. Earlier in the day, anonymous law enforcement officials provided his name to multiple news outlets.
An ISIS flag was discovered in the Ford pickup truck that Jabbar was driving, the FBI said, referring to the Islamist terrorist group that had controlled swaths of Syria and Iraq about a decade ago.
“The FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations,” the statement reads.
During a news briefing on Wednesday afternoon, Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, said investigators do not believe Jabbar was “solely responsible” for the attack as the investigation continues.
“We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates,” Duncan told the news conference, while asking for the public’s assistance in the case.
More than 30 people were injured as Wednesday’s attack turned festive Bourbon Street into a massacre. The FBI and Attorney General Merrick Garland have both confirmed that the incident is being investigated as an act of terrorism.
Also found in his truck were “weapons and a potential IED,” or improvised explosive device, and “other potential IEDs” were found in New Orleans’ French Quarter district, the FBI said.
The FBI said its “special agent bomb technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.”
Jabbar was killed in a firefight with police following the attack, which occurred at around 3:15 a.m. in an area teeming with New Year’s revelers, officials said.
By Jack Phillips
