New Orleans attack: Truck driver was ISIS member who acted alone, FBI says

globalnews.ca:

The FBI said Thursday they now believe a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, killing 14 people, acted alone and was a member of the Islamic State terrorist group.

Investigators said they obtained surveillance footage showing the driver placing two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in coolers along the city’s famed Bourbon Street about two hours before he steered around a police blockade and slammed into pedestrians. He was then shot dead by police.

“This was an act of terrorism,” Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, told reporters. “It was premeditated and an evil act.”

U.S. President Joe Biden, who met with his Homeland Security team to discuss the attack, said Thursday he learned the driver had a remote detonator wired to detonate the devices he planted, citing investigators.

Law enforcement previously said they believed additional people may have been involved in the attack, based on footage of individuals interacting with the IEDs on Bourbon Street. Investigators later determined those people were simply looking inside the coolers and had no knowledge of the driver’s intentions, Raia said.

“We do not assess that anyone else was involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar,” Raia said.

Investigators who searched the driver’s home and devices found that Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, posted videos to social media hours before the attack. In the videos, he said he had joined the Islamic State before last summer, and also provided a will and testament, Raia said.

In another video, Raia said Jabbar explained his original intent was to harm family and friends, but worried