Everything we know about the potential links between New Orleans attack and Tesla Cybertruck explosion
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Authorities are investigating a possible connection between the New Orleans suspect and the driver in a Cybertruck explosion in New Orleans after it emerged they both had military experience.
Investigators are probing what motivated US Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, to plow into a crowd of New Year revelers while flying an Isis flag from his truck, killing 15 people and injuring 30 more before dying in a shootout with police.
FBI officials have said they are focused on whether Jabbar, who had once served in Afghanistan, had any help in planning the deadly attack, and whether it was linked to a separate incident in Las Vegas.
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel, killing one person and injuring seven others, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House on 20 January.
In an evening address, President Joe Biden said the White House was tracking the incidents and law enforcement was investigating “whether there’s any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans”.
Meanwhile, the driver behind the wheel of the Las Vegas explosion has been named locally as Matthew Livelsberger. He is thought to have died in the blast, but police are yet to officially confirm the identity of the deceased.
Multiple informed sources told ABC affiliate Denver 7 and KOAA News that Livelsberger, 37, was a former Army veteran of Colorado Springs, who allegedly served on the same military base as Jabbar.
Police said both men used the same car-sharing app Turo to rent the vehicles used in the attacks.
Firework mortars and camp fuel canisters were also found inside the truck, with Las Vegas County Sheriff Kevin McMahill telling a press conference that officials are “very well aware” of the New Orleans attack.
Party-goers on the city’s busy Bourbon Street, which is famed for its nightlife, were taken by suprise when the suspect Jabbar’s vehicle steered past bollard and “defeated” safety measures to mow innocent people down in his path.
Guns and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device were discovered in the vehicle — which bore the flag of the Islamic State group — along with other explosive devices elsewhere in the city’s famed French Quarter.
The attack is the latest example of a vehicle being used as a weapon to carry out mass violence and the deadliest IS-inspired assault on US soil in years.
After identifying the driver as Jabbar, 42, a US citizen from Texas, it said it was working to determine any potential associations with terrorist organizations.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” FBI assistant special agent in charge Alethea Duncan said at a news conference.
Investigators found multiple improvised explosives, including two pipe bombs that were concealed within coolers and wired for remote detonation, according to a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by the Associated Press.
The bulletin, relying on preliminary information gathered soon after the attack, also cited surveillance footage that it said showed three men and a woman placing one of the devices, but federal officials did not immediately confirm that detail and it wasn’t clear who they were or what connection they had to the attack, if any.
Jabbar joined the Army in 2007, serving on active duty in human resources and information technology and deploying to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, the service said. He transferred to the Army Reserve in 2015 and left in 2020 with the rank of staff sergeant.
