The FBI is investigating Thursday the attack of a former American soldier, “inspired” by the Islamic State group, who rushed his car into a crowd in the tourist district of New Orleans, in the south of the United States, in the middle of the New Year festivities, leaving at least 15 dead and around thirty injured.
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The 42-year-old suspect in the attack was identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a “US national from Texas” and former Army soldier, by federal police and the FBI.
Around 3:15 a.m. (9:15 a.m. GMT) on Wednesday, driving a pick-up, he drove into the crowd strolling in the “Vieux Carré,” the French Quarter, trying to “crush as many people as possible.” that he could,” said a local police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, on Wednesday morning.
“He was fiercely determined to cause carnage,” insisted the official, calling the man a “terrorist”.
After knocking down, killing and injuring dozens of bystanders, the man was shot dead in a shootout with police. Two police officers were injured.
AFP
“It was scary, I cried my eyes out,” Ethan Ayersman, a 20-year-old tourist visiting New Orleans, told AFP who, from his rental window, was able to see “some bodies that were lined up on the ground.
Referring to a “despicable attack”, US President Joe Biden addressed the country on Wednesday evening. He stressed that the suspect had “published videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS” and that he had a “desire to kill”.
Investigators said they were working “to determine the individual’s possible associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations” and claimed to be looking for accomplices.
“Despicable attack”
Searches and raids are underway in New Orleans and other states, with FBI Special Agent Alethea Duncan emphasizing that authorities “do not believe Jabbar is solely responsible.”
Earlier, the FBI field office in Houston (Texas) indicated that it was carrying out activities “related” to the New Orleans attack.
President Biden said authorities were investigating whether there was a “connection” between the attack in New Orleans and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas that killed one person. .
For each of these two tragedies, the vehicles in question had been rented through the carpooling application Turo.
The Las Vegas sheriff said it was a “coincidence … that we must continue to examine.” A spokesperson for the app, used by millions of people in the United States, said it was working with law enforcement.
“We do not believe that the two clients had a criminal past that would have identified them as a security threat,” the group’s spokesperson told AFP.
The attack comes less than three weeks before the transfer of power between Democratic President Joe Biden and his elected Republican successor Donald Trump, in an electric political climate.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar served in the army from 2007 to 2015, including a presence in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, finishing at the rank of staff sergeant, according to the Ministry of Defense.
His brother Abdur Jabbar described him as “a sweetheart,” telling the New York Times that he converted to Islam at a young age, speaking of “a form of radicalization.”
A childhood friend who found him in 2017 told the newspaper that the suspect had become “really intense” about his faith.
The FBI claimed that “an (jihadist group) IS flag was in his vehicle” and that two homemade explosive devices found in the car and in the neighborhood had been defused.
An AFP journalist saw the damaged vehicle which had been transformed into a weapon: a Ford F-150 pick-up, very common in the United States, in an electric version.
President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on denouncing illegal immigration, made the link with the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States: he affirmed, without proof, on his Truth Social network that “the criminals who coming (to the United States) are much worse than the criminals we have in our country.”
The victims
Among the victims was Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux, 18, who graduated from high school last year and was due to start training as a nurse at university, US media reported.
Her mother, Melissa Dedeaux, told the news site Nola.com that her daughter left Gulfport, Mississippi, to secretly travel to New Orleans with her cousin and a friend to celebrate the New Year.
Reggie Hunter, 37, a warehouse manager and father of two from Baton Rouge, was also killed in the attack, according to the New York Times, which identified Tiger Bech, a former NFL football player. Princeton University, among those killed.
The attack took place in the French Quarter of New Orleans, between Canal and Bourbon Street. Famous for its restaurants, bars and jazz clubs, this district, which looks like a small French colonial town, also hosts cabarets and places frequented by the LGBT+ community.
New Orleans, the largest city in Louisiana, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States and known in Europe.
It was to host a major college football game, the Sugar Bowl, on Wednesday evening, which was postponed for 24 hours.
