The Other McCain

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Terrorism on Bourbon Street

Posted on | January 2, 2025 | No Comments

It was nearly 4 in the morning on New Year’s Day, but crowds of people were still celebrating on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, because celebrating until dawn is what you do when you’re in New Orleans, unless the reason you’re in New Orleans is to kill people:

The suspect accused of plowing a pickup truck through a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 15 and injuring at least 30 on New Year’s Day, is named Shamsud-Din Jabbar, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The FBI also confirmed that Jabbar, whose identity was first reported by Nola.com, is 42 years old and that he was carrying an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) flag in the vehicle.
The FBI said in a statement:

The subject has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas. He was driving a Ford pickup truck, which appears to have been rented, and we are working to confirm how the subject came into possession of the vehicle.
An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter. The FBI’s special agent bomb technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable, and they will work to render those devices safe.

The agency said it was investigating the attack as an act of terrorism, and are “aggressively running down all leads to identify any possible associates of the subject.”

When I woke up Wednesday morning and first heard about this incident, I did not immediately think “terrorism.” My office TV was tuned to ESPN, however, and as noon approached, the announcers mentioned that players in town for the Sugar Bowl (between Notre Dame and Georgia) had been locked down in their hotel rooms. My thought: “Whoa!” You don’t do that because of some random case of road rage. Eventually, the game that had been scheduled for 8 p.m. ET New Year’s Day got rescheduled for 4 p.m. ET today. The reason for extra precaution soon became obvious: First, the guy’s Muslim-sounding name and flying the ISIS flag. Second, the use of explosive devices, and third, the reports that Jabbar apparently had accomplices in his crime: “We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible, . . . We are aggressively running down every lead including those of his known associates.”

Perhaps another reason they postponed the Sugar Bowl is that the FBI needed time to see if there was any connection between Jabbar’s deadly attack and the car-bomb attack at the Trump resort in Las Vegas, which happened just a few hours later and was committed by a former Green Beret who was stationed at Fort Bragg in approximately the same time-frame as Jabbar. Both of these guys being military veterans, and both striking on the same day? Both using electric vehicles rented through the same online app? Maybe just a coincidence, but maybe not.



 

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Category: Crime, Louisiana, Terrorism

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