LA - Vehicle drives through New Year's crowd - Multiple fatalities reported - Bourbon Street New Orleans - January 1 2025

[indicolite22]

Pousson said they reconnected on Facebook around 2017 when Jabbar got out of the military, and he noticed a dramatic change. “He was never threatening any violence, but you could see that he had gotten really passionate about his faith.”

New Orleans Attacker Was ‘Inspired’ by ISIS, Biden Says

Investigators who briefed President Biden told him that the suspect had posted videos indicating that he had a “desire to kill.” At least 15 people died in the attack.

www.nytimes.com

 

[indicolite22]

The attacker told his college paper that he struggled to adjust to life after the military.

New Orleans Attacker Was ‘Inspired’ by ISIS, Biden Says

Investigators who briefed President Biden told him that the suspect had posted videos indicating that he had a “desire to kill.” At least 15 people died in the attack.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Seattle1]

Why "hours and hours" away? Wouldn't getting this approval (I'm assuming a judge to approve the search warrant?) be an absolute top priority right now?

It's more than the warrants here. Authorities are likely working to also evacuate the area and residences and scanning the neighborhood for explosives. We've seen this before -- most recently following the shooting of Trump in PA at campaign event and the search of the shooters home. MOO

 

[katydid23]

I'm really wondering whether the whole ISIS aspect of this massacre is just window dressing. I'm thinking of the timelines in this man's life and how being Muslim may have formed his trajectory over decades. He graduated high school in 2001. So I presume that was pre 9/11. He may have had a fairly easy time up until that event; he was just a school mate with a weird cool name; the same as a famous basketball player. But after 9/11 I'm sure he started to feel the animosity that started to build toward Muslims after that event. And hasn't really left. People were getting killed just because someone thought they were Muslim. I remember a couple of Sikhs were murdered in California shortly after 9/11 because the perp mistakenly took their turbans for keffiyehs.

So Jabbar went to college, got a degree, joined the military, was honorably discharged, got married and had kids. Normal stuff. He probably led a fairly normal life until the marriage dissolved. He got divorced from his first wife which probably meant he had to pay either alimony and/or child support. Even after his first wife remarried, he'd still be required to pay child support. He gets married again, has more kids and this marriage doesn't work out either. Divorced again. He's working but he isn't going anywhere financially, drowning in debt from the court cases, the child support, one of his business fails, another one fails and saddles him with massive debt.

At this point in time, some people in similar situations decide to take the easy way out and off themselves while some people start to feel anger and frustration over their lot in life and start focusing on retribution. Everyone is against him. No matter what he does he's no further ahead, he stews about the injustice of it all and how he's doesn't get a break. He's starts to unravel and creates tension with his first wife and kids, so much so, the new husband forbids him to see his older kids because he fears what Jabbar is capable of.

At this point in time he can't contain his anger. He needs a release. Someone who will commiserate with him, someone who nurtures his anger and retribution, and what better place to do it but online. Bitching about *advertiser censored* and the breakdown of the family, the lack of respect, the court system's emasculation of a man, the whole system against him.

He was going to do what many men who've been in the same boat have done; acrimonious divorce, mounting debt, being denied access to his children. He was going to kill them all. Easy, peasy. But somewhere along that timeline he didn't just see his exes, and the courts, and his destitution as the problem, he saw a greater issue. It was all because of his faith. And it probably pissed him off even more because he didn't really practice it at all. So he decides he's going out with a bang. He's dressing up his hatred for his financial woes and his failure as a husband and father as a hatred for America. And what better way to get back at America but strike them in way that will cause the same kind of despair, fear and anger that he has felt. And here we are.

I'm not going to let him off that easy, if his choice was to join ISIS, a violent terrorist organisation. I'm not going to try and justify these sadistic, cruel actions. Driving a truck over the top of innocent people is not something to take lightly and then try to explain away because he had marriage and financial troubles. Who doesn't?

 

[katydid23]

I'm really wondering whether the whole ISIS aspect of this massacre is just window dressing. I'm thinking of the timelines in this man's life and how being Muslim may have formed his trajectory over decades. He graduated high school in 2001. So I presume that was pre 9/11. He may have had a fairly easy time up until that event; he was just a school mate with a weird cool name; the same as a famous basketball player. But after 9/11 I'm sure he started to feel the animosity that started to build toward Muslims after that event. And hasn't really left. People were getting killed just because someone thought they were Muslim. I remember a couple of Sikhs were murdered in California shortly after 9/11 because the perp mistakenly took their turbans for keffiyehs.

So Jabbar went to college, got a degree, joined the military, was honorably discharged, got married and had kids. Normal stuff. He probably led a fairly normal life until the marriage dissolved. He got divorced from his first wife which probably meant he had to pay either alimony and/or child support. Even after his first wife remarried, he'd still be required to pay child support. He gets married again, has more kids and this marriage doesn't work out either. Divorced again. He's working but he isn't going anywhere financially, drowning in debt from the court cases, the child support, one of his business fails, another one fails and saddles him with massive debt.

At this point in time, some people in similar situations decide to take the easy way out and off themselves while some people start to feel anger and frustration over their lot in life and start focusing on retribution. Everyone is against him. No matter what he does he's no further ahead, he stews about the injustice of it all and how he's doesn't get a break. He's starts to unravel and creates tension with his first wife and kids, so much so, the new husband forbids him to see his older kids because he fears what Jabbar is capable of.

At this point in time he can't contain his anger. He needs a release. Someone who will commiserate with him, someone who nurtures his anger and retribution, and what better place to do it but online. Bitching about *advertiser censored* and the breakdown of the family, the lack of respect, the court system's emasculation of a man, the whole system against him.

He was going to do what many men who've been in the same boat have done; acrimonious divorce, mounting debt, being denied access to his children. He was going to kill them all. Easy, peasy. But somewhere along that timeline he didn't just see his exes, and the courts, and his destitution as the problem, he saw a greater issue. It was all because of his faith. And it probably pissed him off even more because he didn't really practice it at all. So he decides he's going out with a bang. He's dressing up his hatred for his financial woes and his failure as a husband and father as a hatred for America. And what better way to get back at America but strike them in way that will cause the same kind of despair, fear and anger that he has felt. And here we are.

So he's justified in his actions because everyone is mean to him because of his religion?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry voiced solidarity with the US and extended its condolences to the families of the victims.

The ministry said Egypt rejects all forms of violence that threaten the security and safety of civilians.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack, saying the kingdom “reiterates its total rejection of all forms of violence.”

Condemning the incident, the Qatari Foreign Ministry also reiterated the country's "firm stance against all forms of violence, terrorism and criminal acts, regardless of their motivations."

Iraq also strongly condemned the car-ramming incident and voiced solidarity with the American people.

Arab countries condemn deadly car-ramming attack in New Orleans

Pickup truck plowed through heart of French Quarter of New Orleans, killing at least 15 people, injuring more than 30 others - Anadolu Ajansı

www.aa.com.tr

 

[GRT]

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote a letter to Chairman-elect Rand Paul of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, demanding the Biden Administration be held accountable following a New Year’s Eve terrorist-linked attack on New Orleans’ famed Bourbon Street.
Senator Hawley wrote, “They must give a full account of this attack and any departmental failures related to the incident.”

What failures would HS have? Would it not be more failures with the State of Texas or local Texas police?

I don't think state police are involved with terrorism/national security on the same level as the DHS or the FBI. They have different investigative resources and authority. The FBI would have to be working with them under JTTFS. And, that's still led by the FBI.

I'm sure we'll have months now, if not longer, of investigations into how DHS and FBI could have missed a sleeper cell (if that's what we're looking at).

Was this a DHS and/or FBI failure? Who knows? Only time will tell if there were signs they missed.

 

[GRT]

So he's justified in his actions because everyone is mean to him because of his religion?

I didn't see anything in that poster's comments about justification. Just a well-thought-out psychological analysis of how the killer might have reached the point where he flipped.

Nothing happens in a vacuum, and the more we know about why someone goes off the rails, the better equipped we are to spot red flags in the future.

It's all good.

MOO

 

[GRT]

I'd rather live my life with a little risk than in fear but that's a personal choice.

Terrorism is about creating fear/terror in people. I refuse to give into it by not being afraid. But that means avoiding terrorism hotspots and being careful even at places in the US including being mindful of their security.

RSBM...

That's the best way to be. If we stop doing the things we love to do--the things that make life wonderful--the terrorists win. And that's what they want.

Live life to the fullest. Take sensible precautions, but don't let someone with hate in their heart limit your experiences.

 

[GRT]

I am just flabbergasted, looking at the pictures my fellow WSers have posted of the various barricades allegedly in place here.

They ALL seem totally inadequate to stop a truck racing down the street.

That aluminum looking one with the vertical posts is used here and probably in many cities just for crowd control. It’s to keep us out of the path of a parade, etc.

If someone wanted to, they could climb right over that or push it forward. Just leaning against it is enough to move it a few inches.

Why oh why were there not effective means initiated to prevent vehicular terrorism? Bourbon St. is a party street in a party town—-it’s going to be swarmed on New Year’s.

I blame the terrorist, of course. But I’m really stunned at what IMO was a very paltry and deficient use of barricades.

Here in Times Square, as I believe most people know, the NYPD blocks off a frozen zone on NYE. Sanitation trucks, bulldozers, and other sturdy vehicles are parked perpendicular to the streets. Plus since 9/11 the crowds are funneled through metal detectors.

It is draining for everyone but is so much more effective when it comes to a driver determined to inflict mass casualties.

JMO and experience.

I get what you're saying and why it's so frustrating to learn the barricades were so inadequate.

I like that you mentioned how they cordon off Times Square with bulldozers, sanitation trucks, etc. I was totally unaware of that type of barrier being used, but I really like it. It's effective and yet it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to implement.

I'm guessing we'll see more communities taking those steps going forward.

I think a lot of the reason people overlook things like that is they just can't imagine something so horrible happening in their own little realm. But every time something like this happens, we're reminded that we have to be vigilant.

 

[GRT]

My understanding was he only recently converted as per comments from his ex wife’s new partner and Jabbar’s brother - who said they were raised Christian.

I wonder how he converted.

Did he seek out ISIS online? Or was it more organic—perhaps a friend of a friend was on the lookout for potential disgruntled people to recruit?

This is all just wild speculation on my part -- but I'm guessing whoever else the FBI thinks was involved was the main ISIS link that supplied the explosives and helped formulate the plan. I have to wonder what the actual plan was, because the amount of explosive devices indicates there was something much larger in the works.

But, they had to know that Jabbar was unlikely to survive the truck assault. So, someone else was prepared to carry out the rest?

ALL MOO

 

[Elley Mae]

Jabbar served in the Army on active duty from 2006 to 2015, then in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020, according to three U.S. defense officials.

Suspect in New Orleans truck attack identified as 42-year-old Army veteran from Texas

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, served in the Army on active duty from 2006 to 2015 and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, three U.S. defense officials said.

www.nbcnews.com

He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and was an administrative clerk. He was a staff sergeant in 2020 when he was honorably discharged.

When they reconnected on Facebook several years later, Pousson noticed Jabbar's posts focused on his Muslim faith.

"It was always positive — peace be with you, uplifting type of stuff," Pousson said. "Nothing that he posted online that I saw was negative."

"I didn't see this coming from a mile away," he added.

 

[katydid23]

I didn't see anything in that poster's comments about justification.

I thought the opening sentence attempts to minimise ISIS and its violent tentacles in the Western world:

"I'm really wondering whether the whole ISIS aspect of this massacre is just window dressing. I'm thinking of the timelines in this man's life and how being Muslim may have formed his trajectory over decades "

Calling ISIS just 'window dressing' when it was ISIS and its violent teachings that compelled him to slaughter those innocent people seems problematic, imo. We shouldn't lose sight of that radicalisation process that has been so destructive and deadly.

It does seem to seek to justify his actions by claiming he did this because people were mean to him after 911. That is a false justification, imo. We should not try to rationalise such vicious homicidal behaviour.

Just a well-thought-out psychological analysis of how the killer might have reached the point where he flipped.

Nothing happens in a vacuum, and the more we know about why someone goes off the rails, the better equipped we are to spot red flags in the future.

And the more we justify these violent actions by calling them understandable, the more we normalise them. IMO

It's all good.

MOO

 

[tlcya]

Have the FBI backed off their this is not a terroristic attack statements yet in light of this new info? It seems clear his actions were indeed politically/religion motivated at this point. In addition there are reports that he may have a connection to the man who plowed into a Vegas crowd and there is this:

NBC reports that the FBI is not prepared to say that Jabbar carried out the attack alone.
15 dead after terrorist attack in New Orleans French Quarter

 

[MoominMama222]

So I am all for freely practicing religion. But I find it hard to believe that this radicalization is happening without the knowledge of a wider group who know what is happening but not saying anything. I'm not Muslim but could a group of radicalizers really operate in a mosque without the imam's knowledge? I'm certainly not trying to cast blame. I would say the same thing about the catholic priests in Ireland and the IRA back in the day. We treat things with kid gloves here to the point that we never break down the terrorist cells operating here. Perhaps this one will change things!

I highly doubt radicalization was happening in the mosque. Mosques are usually places where the community/sense of belonging is able to prevent radicalization. Radicalization most often happens online. The person will start to isolate from friends and family. They may stop going to mosque at all. The process of radicalization is similar across ideologies and creeds. Find an individual who is vulnerable to indoctrination, whether that is a teenager with a bad family life, grievances, and mental health issues or a middle age former army vet with a history of failed marriages, grievances and mental health issues--exploit their weaknesses, provide explanations for their pain, and give them a sense of purpose. In the US we see it happening with radical Islam, white supremacy, incel ideologies, accelerationists, far right and far left, religious and non-religious. MOO

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country trusts that those responsible for the car-ramming attack that killed at least 15 and injured dozens in the city of New Orleans in the US state of Louisiana, will be brought to justice.

“Horrified by the attack in New Orleans, U.S., which has claimed innocent lives and left many injured. We trust that those responsible for this terrible act will be brought to justice,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on X, which was published on Wednesday.

“Violence, terrorism, and any threats to human life have no place in our world and must not be tolerated,” he added.

“Ukraine stands with the American people and denounces violence,” he noted.

Ukrainian president confident New Orleans attackers will face justice

‘Violence, terrorism, and any threats to human life have no place in our world and must not be tolerated,' says Zelenskyy - Anadolu Ajansı

www.aa.com.tr

 

[DS2021]

Suspects in Vegas explosion, New Orleans attack served at same Army base, sources tell Denver7 Investigates

Denver7 Investigates has learned that the suspects in the Las Vegas Tesla explosion and the New Orleans truck rampage on New Year's Day both served at the same military base.

www.denver7.com

 

[tlcya]

The FBI says an Islamic State (IS) group flag was found inside the vehicle he was driving, while two improvised explosive devices were found nearby.

FBI assistant special agent Alethea Duncan said the agency did not believe Jabbar was "solely responsible" and were investigating the incident as an "act of terrorism".
New Orleans attack: Authorities probe potential link with Las Vegas incident

 

[MoominMama222]

I'm not going to let him off that easy, if his choice was to join ISIS, a violent terrorist organisation. I'm not going to try and justify these sadistic, cruel actions. Driving a truck over the top of innocent people is not something to take lightly and then try to explain away because he had marriage and financial troubles. Who doesn't?

I don't think the poster was letting the killer off easy at all--they were saying he may have latched on to ISIS but could just have easily glommed onto any ideology that in his twisted mind justified his actions. The poster gave a very thoughtful psychological explanation. This is exactly how radicalization works. A perpetrator can justify their actions based on far-right accelerationist ideology, incel ideology, radical Islamist ideology--the ideology is beside the point. We're seeing this play out in society practically every month with mass killers from all kinds of backgrounds. This killer was originally going to kill his family. Probably in his warped mind, he needed a better "reason" to commit violence and latched onto radical Islam because in his mind it fit his "values" better. It's all warped and distorted thinking, but I think it's important to look at the psychological process of radicalization to be able to prevent it. MOO

 

[DS2021]

FBI assistant special agent Alethea Duncan said the agency did not believe Jabbar was "solely responsible" and were investigating the incident as an "act of terrorism"

Was this statement made before or after they determined the people on the video weren't planting explosives?