Headlines for January 2, 2025
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President Biden says the man who drove a pickup truck into throngs of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans early Wednesday had posted videos to social media hours earlier pledging allegiance to the militant group ISIS. The attack killed 15 people and wounded at least 35 others, carving a path of destruction down Bourbon Street before the assailant was killed in a firefight with police officers.
President-elect Trump responded on social media, writing, “When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true.” However, President Biden revealed the suspect is a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Houston named Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was born in Texas.
President Joe Biden: “He served in the United States Army on active duty for many years. He also served in the Army Reserve until a few years ago. The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”
The annual college football game hosted at the nearby Superdome, the Sugar Bowl, was delayed until Thursday following the attack. The FBI said it found an explosive device in the Ford F-150 pickup truck used by the suspect. Shamsud-Din Jabbar had two prior criminal offenses: one in 2002 for theft and another in 2005 for driving with an invalid license. Jabbar obtained a real estate license in 2019; the following year, he posted a video to YouTube introducing himself as a professional real estate agent. Court documents show Jabbar struggled with his finances. In 2020, his second wife was granted a restraining order forbidding Jabbar from sending threatening messages or causing “bodily injury” to his spouse or their child.