The man suspected of blowing up a Tesla pickup truck in front of the Trump towers in Las Vegas and the New Orleans terrorist served for a period at the same military base. Sources reported this to local TV Denver7 without specifying which, while the police continue to investigate a possible link between Matthew Livelsberger and Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
Investigations underway into possible links
Investigators are examining whether there are possible links between the New Orleans attack and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. CNN reports it. “We are absolutely investigating any connection to what happened in New Orleans and to other attacks that have occurred around the world,” Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said at a news conference. The sheriff said police were working to determine whether the explosion outside the hotel had any connection to ISIS, but “we have no indication of that here in Las Vegas.” The FBI said yesterday that it believed the Cybertruck explosion was an isolated incident and that there was no further danger to the public. The vehicles used in both incidents were rented from Turo, the company said, a which allows owners to rent out their cars.
Both incidents occurred just hours into the new year. When President Joe Biden addressed the nation about the Bourbon Street attack, he said he was also monitoring the Cybertruck explosion, but warned that no one should “jump to conclusions.” “Law enforcement and the intelligence community are also investigating this, including a possible connection to the New Orleans attack,” Biden said. “So far, there is nothing to report on this matter at this time.”
In both cases, the vehicles involved were rented through the ride-sharing app Turo
Speaking of a “despicable attack”, US President Joe Biden addressed the country in the early hours of the evening. He underlined that the suspect had “published videos on social networks in which he said he was inspired by ISIS” and that he had “the desire to kill”. The attack occurred in a neighborhood that never sleeps all year round, especially on New Year’s Eve, between Canal and Bourbon Street. Famous for its restaurants, bars and jazz clubs, this neighborhood, which resembles a small French colonial town, also hosts cabarets and clubs frequented by the LGBT+ community. Investigators are working “to ascertain any associations and affiliations of the individual with terrorist organizations” and are looking for accomplices. Searches and raids are underway in New Orleans and other states, but the FBI “does not believe that Jabbar is solely responsible” for the attack. Biden added that authorities are investigating a possible “connection” between the New Orleans attack and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas that killed one person and injured one. another dozen. In both cases, the vehicles involved were rented through the ride-sharing app Turo.
For the Las Vegas police chief, this is a “coincidence that we must continue to examine.” A spokesperson for the application, used by millions of people in the United States, said it was cooperating with law enforcement: “We do not believe the two customers had a criminal past, otherwise they would have been identified as a security threat.” , the group’s spokesperson said. President-elect Donald Trump, who led a campaign to denounce illegal immigration, made a connection between what happened and the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States and stated on his social network Truth that «the criminals who arrive in the United States are much worse than the criminals we have in our country.” The FBI has taken the lead in the investigation into the attack carried out on New Year’s Eve in the name of ISIS by a Deloitte employee and former US soldier on the busiest street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old born in Texas, an American citizen, serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan, drove a pick-up truck at full speed into the crowd celebrating the end of the year, then got out of the vehicle and he started shooting, before being killed by the police. 15 people remained on the ground and around thirty were injured. Around 3.15am (when it was 9.15am in Italy) he threw himself into the crowd in the «Vieux Carrè» trying to «crush as many people as he could» said the New Orleans police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick. “He was ferociously determined to cause carnage,” said Kirkpatrick, who called the man a “terrorist.” After having run over, killed and injured dozens of passers-by, the man was killed in a firefight with the police. Two police officers were injured. Shamsud-Din Jabbar served in the Army from 2007 to 2015, including a presence in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, finishing with the rank of sergeant major, the Pentagon reports. His brother Abdur Jabbar describes him as “a treasure” and told the New York Times that he converted to Islam at a young age, later becoming “a form of radicalization.” A childhood friend who met him again in 2017 told the newspaper that his approach to faith had become “very intense”. The FBI revealed that “an ISIS flag was found in the pick-up” used for the massacre together with two homemade explosive devices, which were later defused.