AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
Fifteen people were killed and at least 35 more were injured after a driver plowed into a crowd in the heart of New Orleans and then started shooting, authorities said.
The suspect has been identified as Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a 42-year-old army veteran.
Jabbar's criminal record, obtained from the Texas Department of Public Safety and viewed by Business Insider, shows two prior arrests in 2002 and 2005. The first was for theft, while the other was for driving with an invalid license. Both were classified as misdemeanors.
The FBI said on Wednesday evening that Texas authorities were searching a location in Houston believed to be linked to Jabbar.
"FBI Houston and the Harris County Sheriff's Office are continuing a court-authorized search of a location near the intersection of Hugh Road and Crescent Peak Drive," it said in a statement.
The agency said it's made no arrests but has deployed specialized personnel, including a SWAT team, crisis negotiators, and a bomb squad, to the Houston location.
New Orleans is reeling after Jabbar drove a rented Ford pickup truck through the crowd on Bourbon Street at approximately 3:15 a.m.
Jabbar was shot and killed by police, but was believed to be working with a "range of suspects," according to Alethea Duncan, an FBI special agent in New Orleans.
"At this time, we cannot go into detail about the subject's history," Duncan said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon. "We're working through this process to figure out all this information."
There were also explosive devices found at the scene, and the FBI confirmed in a statement that an ISIS flag was located in the vehicle.
President Joe Biden said in a press conference that, hours before the attack, the suspect had posted videos "inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill."
In a statement to Business Insider, car-sharing app Turo said Jabbar used its service to rent the truck.
"We are heartbroken to learn that one of our host's vehicles was involved in this awful incident," the statement reads. "We are actively partnering with the FBI. We are not currently aware of anything in this guest's background that would have identified him as a trust and safety threat to us at the time of the reservation."
Superintendent Anne E. Kirkpatrick of the New Orleans Police Department said during an earlier press conference that a man drove a pickup truck down Bourbon Street "at a very fast pace." Kirkpatrick said the man drove into the crowd intentionally.
She also said the driver shot two police officers, who she said were in stable condition.
Kirkpatrick said it appeared that most of those injured were locals rather than tourists.
Biden posted a statement that the "FBI is taking the lead in the investigation and is investigating this incident as an act of terrorism."
NOLA Ready, the city's emergency preparedness campaign, had initially said there was "a mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street."
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
Kevin Garcia, a 22-year-old who was present at the time, told CNN, "All I seen was a truck slamming into everyone on the left side of Bourbon sidewalk."
He said that "a body came flying at me," and that he heard gunshots.
One witness told CBS that a driver plowed into the crowd on Bourbon Street at high speed and that the driver got out and started firing a weapon, with the police firing back.
Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana said on X on Wednesday that a "horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning."
"Please join Sharon and I in praying for all the victims and first responders on scene," he wrote, referring to his wife. "I urge all near the scene to avoid the area."
Bourbon Street, in the city's French Quarter, is a famous party destination.
Some streets in and around the French Quarter were due to be closed for New Year's celebrations, with Canal Street expected to stay open unless traffic got too bad, the local outlet Fox 8 WVUE-TV reported.
Kirkpatrick said at the press conference that the city had "called in every officer that we have." She said she still wanted people to enjoy the celebrations but to stay away from Bourbon Street.
The New Orleans Police Department on Monday had said that it would be staffed at 100% for both celebrations and that 300 additional officers would be joining from other law-enforcement agencies.
"Residents and visitors can expect to see a strong presence of marked and unmarked police vehicles, as well as officers on foot, bike, and horseback as part of the department's Mounted Patrol," Kirkpatrick said at the time.
"This increased visibility will enhance public safety, provide crowd control, and allow for rapid response to any incidents," she added.
As a result of the attack, the Sugar Bowl between the University of Georgia and the University of Notre Dame has been postponed until Thursday, January 2.
