HOUSTON – Officials have released details that provide a glimpse into the motive of the man behind the truck attack that killed 14 people in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day.
Shortly after 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, FBI officials in New Orleans provided the public with the latest information on the attack.
Recommended Videos
After reports from Jan. 1 indicated that 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar had co-conspirators in the deadly attack, law enforcement officials now say that they believe he acted alone.
Yesterday, KPRC 2 witnessed a SWAT team showing up at Jabbar’s Houston-area home. Not long afterward, a man was seen coming out of a house with his hands raised as officers had their guns drawn. He appears to have been taken into custody.
FBI officials also provided a timeline of Jabbar’s movements ahead of the attack.
Investigators believe Jabbar rented the Ford F150 in Houston back on Dec. 30 and drove from Houston to New Orleans the following evening. During this time, he posted several videos online pledging his support of ISIS.
Jabbar posted five videos to his Facebook account between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m. just before the attack.
In the first video posted, Jabbar says that he first planned to harm his family and friends, rather than the public. He said he changed his mind, because he believed that the news headlines from such an attack would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers.”
He also said that he had pledged allegiance to ISIS before the summer of 2024.