Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the driver of the pickup truck that plowed into a crowd in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens, acted alone and there was no other threat in the Bourbon Street area, the FBI said Thursday .

“We do not believe at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack,” Christopher Raia, FBI deputy assistant director in the agency’s counterterrorism division, told reporters during a news conference.

Raia said investigators were combing through five electronic devices – three cellphones and two laptops – and there was “nothing that suggests through call recordings, anything on those devices, through interviews, through anything in our systems, that he was assisting anyone in this attack.” became.” .”

This represents a change from the FBI’s original assessment on Wednesday that Jabbar likely did not act alone and that the agency was seeking information that could lead to additional suspects who may have been involved in the attack.

“Right now we have a much better picture and much more confidence in what we are dealing with than we did 24 hours ago,” Raia said Thursday.

Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran from Houston, was killed in a shootout with police after the attack, which is being investigated as an “act of terrorism,” agency officials said. A black flag with ties to ISIS was attached to the back of the pickup. While the exact motive is unclear, Raia said Jabbar was “100% inspired by the terrorist group.”

According to Raia, the driver rented a white F-150 in Houston on Monday before leaving for New Orleans on Tuesday. Jabbar posted “several videos” on social media expressing his support for ISIS and stating that while he intended to harm his family and friends, he was concerned that the headlines were not focused on the “war between believers and unbelievers,” said Raia. Jabbar also said he joined ISIS before the summer of 2024.

According to police, around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday, Jabbar circled a police vehicle that was blocking the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets, careened onto the sidewalk and then veered back onto Bourbon streets. He drove nearly three blocks down Bourbon Street, crossed Iberville Street and Bienville Street, then crashed just before Conti Street. Jabbar then got out of the pickup and fired at police officers, wounding two. The condition of the injured officers was stable, police said in a press conference on Wednesday morning.

Raia said surveillance footage also shows that Jabbar placed two IED devices in refrigerators in the area before the attack.

Bourbon Street, which was closed due to a government investigation, was cleaned overnight and reopened to pedestrians on Thursday. Fourteen yellow roses were placed on the sidewalk near Canal Street as a makeshift memorial to each of those killed in the frenzy raid.

The Sugar Bowl, a nationally televised game that is part of the College Football Playoff, was scheduled to take place Wednesday night in New Orleans but was postponed until Thursday afternoon.

“As law enforcement resources normally allocated to an event of this magnitude are currently engaged in active investigations related to the incident, the postponement will allow additional security resources to be deployed to maintain the standards typical of a major event” at the Caesars Superdome , the Sugar Bowl said in a statement Wednesday evening.

Asked about security measures in the city before the game, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry told reporters that officials had “strengthened the area” and “deployed some additional types of assets.”

“I don’t like to give details because I don’t like to tell the enemy what we have,” he said. “But I can tell you we’re in better shape than we were before,” Landry said. He also said “an unprecedented amount of law enforcement resources will be deployed” to complete the investigation.

Raia said there is currently “no definitive connection” between the attack in New Orleans and a Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas outside the Trump Hotel on Wednesday that killed the suspect in the vehicle.

Details about Jabbar and his past come to light

According to the FBI, Jabbar, who was a U.S. citizen, was honorably discharged from the Army. He also served as a human resources specialist and information technology specialist from March 2007 to January 2015, and then as an IT specialist in the Army Reserve until July 2020, an Army spokesperson confirmed to NPR. In February 2009, Jabbar was deployed to Afghanistan, where he served for approximately 11 months. He left the service with the rank of staff sergeant.

The FBI completed the search of Jabbar’s Houston home Thursday morning, saying: a post on social media that there is “no danger to residents” in the area. The Texas Newsroom reported that a neighbor, who did not know Jabbar by name, described the suspect as calm and their interactions as normal.