Investigators say they haven’t discovered proof linking separate lethal assaults in New Orleans and Las Vegas, because the FBI continues to probe two incidents that rattled Individuals as they rang in 2025.
The tragedies, which occurred simply hours aside early on Jan. 1, have prompted heightened considerations over US safety lower than three weeks earlier than Donald Trump is ready to take over as president. Trump, President Joe Biden and congressional leaders have all weighed in on the occasions and authorities referred to as the New Orleans assault an act of terrorism.
“At this level there isn’t a definitive hyperlink between the assault right here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” Federal Bureau of Investigation deputy assistant director Christopher Raia advised a information convention.
Officers at a press convention in Las Vegas added that authorities are nonetheless looking out for any potential hyperlinks.
Biden on the White Home on Thursday mentioned that he’s directed authorities to speed up their investigations into each assaults.
“Federal regulation enforcement and the intelligence neighborhood are actively investigating any international or home contacts and connection that might probably be related to the assault,” Biden mentioned, including that “as of now they haven’t discovered proof” of a hyperlink between the suspects within the two assaults.
The New Orleans assault, through which a truck plowed right into a crowded French Quarter road throughout New 12 months’s celebrations, left 15 folks useless and greater than 30 injured.
The suspect recognized as Shamsud-Din Jabbar was killed on the scene after a confrontation with regulation enforcement. Authorities mentioned they found two improvised explosive units in coolers close to the scene of the assault and an ISIS flag in Jabbar’s car.
Learn Extra: Suspect in Deadly Las Vegas Cybertruck Blast Identified
Investigators imagine Jabbar picked up the rented Ford truck in Houston on Dec. 30 earlier than driving to New Orleans the subsequent day. They mentioned he posted a number of movies to a web-based platform proclaiming help for ISIS and claiming he had joined the group earlier in the summertime.
The FBI recovered three cell phones and two laptops utilized by Jabbar, which investigators are exploiting for intelligence, Raia mentioned. As a possible motive, Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen from Texas who served within the army, posted a video on social media saying there’s a “struggle between the believers and disbelievers.”
‘Horrific Act’
Nonetheless, investigators haven’t discovered any proof right now exhibiting that ISIS directed the assault, in line with a US official who requested to not be recognized talking about particulars of the investigation.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry condemned the assault as a “horrific act of violence” and mentioned that greater than 1,000 regulation enforcement officers are analyzing huge quantities of information and surveillance footage.
Though the investigation is ongoing, by Thursday US officers had decided that Jabbar acted alone. Raia, the FBI official, advised reporters that officers had been assured that Jabbar didn’t have accomplices. “We don’t imagine the general public is in any hazard round any of those areas,” he mentioned.
In Las Vegas, a Tesla Cybertruck exploded exterior the Trump Las Vegas lodge hours later, leaving the motive force useless and injuring seven others.
The driving force, Matthew Alan Livelsberger, 37, was on depart from the US Military from his submit in Germany.
Livelsberger rented the Cybertruck in Denver on Dec. 28 and drove to Las Vegas, the place the car exploded 17 seconds after he arrived on the lodge valet, in line with police.
At a press convention on Thursday, Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill mentioned the motive force sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound earlier than the explosion, with a handgun discovered at his ft.
The physique was burned past recognition, and authorities are awaiting medical data or DNA to conclusively verify his identification. Nonetheless, tattoos and private paperwork, together with his army ID, have helped authorities establish him as Livelsberger, mentioned McMahill.
Two semi-automatic firearms bought legally on Dec. 30 had been additionally recovered from the scene.
Whereas McMahill famous there are “very unusual” similarities between each New Orleans and Las Vegas suspects, officers mentioned there’s at present no data linking the suspect to a world terrorist group.
Photograph: Individuals have a look at a blocked off street from Canal Avenue after a minimum of 15 folks had been killed on Bourbon Avenue, after an assault early within the morning, on January 1, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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