US Begins New Year on High Security Alert after New Orleans, Vegas Attacks

•Suspect acted alone, supported Islamic State, FBI says

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Law-enforcement officials in US cities were beefing up security yesterday after a deadly attack in New Orleans and an explosion outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas raised fears of more threats in a month packed with large-scale public events.

Police in Washington, the site of the January 9 state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter and President-elect Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration, said in a statement they had raised security across the city “in light of recent events,” and that the community will notice an increased police presence.

Republican Trump is also due to hold a “victory rally” at Washington’s Capital One Arena on January 19, Reuters reported. For the first time, the inauguration ceremony has been designated a National Special Security Event, a decision made before the New Orleans attack. That designation means the US Secret Service will take the lead security role, the agency told Reuters in a statement.

“We will continue to work with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in assessing the ever-changing threat landscape and will adjust our security plans as needed,” Matthew Young, a US Secret Service spokesperson said.

The investigation into what motivated a US Army veteran carrying an Islamic State flag on his truck to plow into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans continued, as authorities beefed up security ahead of the Sugar Bowl college football game to be played less than a mile from Wednesday’s mayhem. At least 15 people, including the suspect, were killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, information has emerged that the US Army veteran who drove a truck into the crowd of New Year’s Day revelers had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, but acted alone in the attack.

The suspect, who the FBI said was shot dead at the scene after firing at police, has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan who once served in Afghanistan. He drove from Houston to New Orleans on December 31, and posted five videos on Facebook between 1:29 am and 3:02 am on the morning of the attack in which he said he supported IS, the Islamic militant group with fighters in Iraq and Syria, the FBI said.

In the first video, Jabbar said he previously planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned that the media coverage would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers,” FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said at a press conference.

Jabbar also said in the videos that he had joined IS before last summer and provided his last will and testament, Raia added.

“This was an act of terrorism,” Raia said. “It was premeditated and an evil act.” The FBI was still investigating Jabbar’s “path to radicalisation,” but the evidence reviewed so far showed that he was clearly inspired by IS, Raia said.

Surveillance video footage showed Jabbar placing two improvised explosive devices in coolers a few hours before the attack at intersections around Bourbon Street, the popular New Orleans tourist destination where the attack unfolded, Raia said. They were both rendered safe at the scene.

Other people were seen on video looking at the coolers, who investigators now believe were just curious passers-by, not accomplices.

New Orleans officials said the Sugar Bowl college football game that had been scheduled for Wednesday in a New Year’s Day tradition would take place on Thursday afternoon. The city will also host the National Football League’s Super Bowl next month.

The FBI said there appeared to be no link between the attack in New Orleans and the incident in Las Vegas on the same day in which a Tesla Cybertruck packed with gasoline canisters and large firework mortars exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20.

The injured victims in the New Orleans attack included two police officers wounded by gunfire from the suspect, taking place a mere three hours into the new year in the historic French Quarter.

Among the victims were the mother of a four-year-old who had just moved into a new apartment after winning a promotion at work, a New York financial employee and accomplished student-athlete who was visiting home for the holidays, and an 18-year-old aspiring nurse from Mississippi.