FBI probing link between New Orleans attack, Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion: Biden

Speaking from the White House on Wednesday evening, Biden cited FBI reports that identified the suspected perpetrator of the attack in New Orleans’s busy Bourbon Street, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, as “an American citizen, born in Texas” who appeared to have been inspired by the Islamic State.

“He served in the United States Army on active duty for many years,” Biden said in a four-minute address.

The president also said he had been told by the FBI that Jabbar had posted videos on social media hours before the attack, which killed 15 people. The videos “indicat[ed] that he’s inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”

“The ISIS flag was found in his vehicle, which he rented to conduct this attack,” he said. “Possible explosives were found in the vehicle as well, and more explosives were found nearby.”

Biden said intelligence and law enforcement agents were working to establish if the suspect acted alone or had co-conspirators, adding that the investigation was “fluid.”

The president said investigators were exploring possible links between the New Orleans attack and a later episode outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas – owned by the president-elect – in which one person was killed after a Tesla cyber vehicle, built by the company owned by Elon Musk, Trump’s richest supporter, exploded.

“Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score,” Biden said, adding that “no one should jump to conclusions.”