What we do know as details are emerging about the suspect, the victims and the ‘ISIS-inspired’ plot

A US Army veteran who rammed a truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, leaving at least 14 people dead and dozens injured, proclaimed his support for ISIS in the hours before the attack, according to the FBI. .

The suspect — identified by the FBI as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas and an Army vet — was killed in a shootout with police early Wednesday. Investigators initially said they believed Jabbar was working with others to complete the attack and were looking for other suspects. But on Thursday, the FBI said it now believed Jabbar acted alone.

“This was an act of terrorism,” FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia told reporters, adding that Jabbar was “100% inspired by ISIS.”

Authorities also said they are investigating a possible link to the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday, but stressed that there is currently no definitive link between the two attacks.

Here’s everything we know so far about the deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans.

The FBI now believes the attacker acted alone, declared his support for ISIS on Facebook

The FBI and other law enforcement officials said during a news conference Thursday that they are reviewing “hundreds of hours of surveillance” of the French Quarter and other locations and have received more than 400 tips from the public.

Raia gave a timeline of Jabbar’s actions before the attack:

• On Monday, December 30, Jabbar picked up a rented F-150 pickup in Houston.

• On Tuesday, December 31, Jabbar drove from Houston to New Orleans.

• Early Wednesday, January 1, Jabbar posted five videos on Facebook between 01.29 and 03.02, where he declared his support for ISIS. In the first video, Raia said Jabbar talked about how he originally intended to harm his family and friends, but was concerned that news headlines would not focus on “the war between the believers and the unbelievers.” Jabbar also said he joined ISIS before the summer and produced a will.

The FBI added that three phones linked to Jabbar were recovered. “Digital media exploitation is a priority to see what’s on the devices and determine if there are other potential leads,” Raia said. Two laptops were also found at a residence in Mandeville, La., and are being reviewed by the FBI.

Investigators said they recovered an ISIS flag from the pickup truck, and FBI bomb technicians also found two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in coolers: one found at the intersection of Bourbon and Orleans streets and one at another intersection about two blocks away.

President Biden said Thursday afternoon that he was briefed by the FBI, saying, “They have determined that the attacker is the same person who planted the explosives in these ice coolers at two nearby locations in the French Quarter just a few hours before he struck the crowd with his vehicle. They estimated he had a remote detonator in his vehicle to set off the two ice chests.”

Authorities said the attacker drove around a police blockade on Bourbon Street, a famous party street in the city’s French Quarter, early on New Year’s Day and rammed a pickup truck into a crowd on a sidewalk before getting out of the vehicle and opening fire on responding officers. The driver was fatally shot. Two officers were also shot, but are in stable condition.

The FBI previously said it had been examines -one residential area in Houstonwith the help of local authorities in connection with the attack.

New Orleans was replacing security barriers around Bourbon Street before the attack

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Wednesday that older security barriers protecting the Bourbon Street area were malfunctioning and had been removed before the New Year’s attack. “Pills were not up because they are being completed, with the expectation of being completed before the Super Bowl,” she said.

However, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said police knew the bollards had been removed and put increased security measures in place. “We had a car there,” she said of the area the attacker managed to drive through. “We had barriers there, we had officers there and they were still coming around.”

The driver in the attack “defeated” the security measures in place around Bourbon Street and was “hell-bent on causing the carnage and the damage he did,” Kirkpatrick said.

Reuters reported that a 2017 report commissioned by the city of New Orleans found that the French Quarter “is often densely packed with pedestrians and represents an area where a mass casualty incident could occur.”

Victims include a single mother, father of 2, college student and recent high school graduate

New Orleans police and the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office have not yet released the names of the slain victims, but family members and universities have begun confirming some of the victims’ identities to multiple news outlets and on social media.

• Nicole Perez, late 20s, and a single mother of a four-year-old son

Increased security measures for the sugar bowl

A moment of silence was held in honor of the victims before the national anthem at the Sugar Bowl. The College Football Playoff game was scheduled to take place at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Wednesday, but was postponed until Thursday at 3 p.m. local time due to the New Year attack.

Kirkpatrick, the city’s police inspector, said further NBCs Today show on Thursday that New Orleans would see stronger security measures ahead of Thursday’s game.

“We’re going to have hundreds of officers and staff lining our streets,” she said. “We’re staffing up to the same level, if not more, than we were prepared for the Super Bowl.”

Bourbon Street reopened to the public Thursday afternoon. “We’re ready,” Mayor Cantrell said of the event and security, adding that the city is ready not only to host the Sugar Bowl, but future major events as well.

The stadium is scheduled to host Super Bowl next month.