WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Joe Biden said the attacker in New Orleans who killed 15 and wounded dozens on New Year's Day was inspired by the Islamic State group.
He said the FBI is taking the lead in the investigation and is investigating this incident as an act of terrorism.
FBI said an ISIS flag was located in the Ford pickup truck which the attacker drove into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early hours of Wednesday.
After hitting the crowd, he exited the vehicle and fired upon police. Police returned fire, and the assailant was pronounced dead at the scene.
The attacker has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran from Texas.
FBI said it is working to determine Jabbar's potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
Addressing the media from Camp David about the latest developments in New Orleans, Biden said the FBI has told him the suspect had uploaded videos to social media 'mere hours before the attack' indicating that he was inspired by Islamic State and expressing a 'desire to kill.'
Biden told reporters that there is no link between the New Orleans massacre and the deadly explosion of a cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas within a space of few hours.
'I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind,' he said in a separate statement.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
