A U.S. Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, killing 15 people, had posted videos to social media hours before the carnage saying he was inspired by the Islamic State group and expressing a desire to kill, the president said.
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NewsTranscript
00:00First and foremost, let me be very clear about this point.
00:03This was an act of terrorism, it was premeditated and an evil act.
00:09This was obviously a critical incident and with that lots of information
00:13and tips come pouring in from law enforcement, first responders and the public.
00:18But at this point currently, and this is another position, another fact I want to be clear on,
00:24we do not assess at this point that anyone else involved in this attack is involved in this attack
00:32except for Shamsuddin Jabbar, the subject you've already been briefed on.
00:38So far we have received just over 400 tips from the public and that information is being followed
00:44up on both here in New Orleans and across the country. Some of the tips are here in New Orleans
00:51and there are other tips in other states across the country that we are following up on.
00:55At this point investigators believe Jabbar picked up the rented F-150
01:00in Houston, Texas on December 30th. He then drove from Houston to New Orleans on the evening of the
01:0831st and he posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS.
01:16FBI bomb technicians also recovered two IEDs in coolers, one from the cross section of Bourbon
01:23and Orleans Street and the second at an intersection approximately two blocks away.
01:30As you know, there's also an FBI investigation in Las Vegas. We are following up on all potential
01:36leads and not ruling everything out. However, at this point there is no definitive link
01:44between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas. And again, I'll preface as I
01:49close, I'll preface everything with what I started with in the beginning which was this is very early
01:55in an investigation like this. We know that he specifically picked out Bourbon Street,
01:59not quite sure why. I mean, I think one can assume that it was lots of people New Year's Eve,
02:05you know, with a target for an attack. That's the stuff in the coming days as far as that
02:12path to radicalization that we're really going to be digging into and making a priority of. So
02:20what I can tell you right now is that he was 100 percent inspired by ISIS and so we're digging
02:26through more of the social media, more interviews, working with some of our other partners to
02:31ascertain just how to ascertain a little bit more about that connection. What's going on in this
02:37city and this state is twofold. We've got an active criminal investigation going on while
02:45we're also continuing to secure the city in preparation for three o'clock kickoff time
02:52for the Sugar Bowl.