Shamsud Din Jabbar named as suspect who killed 10 & injured 30 as ISIS flag on truck & ‘bombs’ in French Quarter probed
A DRIVER who killed 10 and wounded 30 when he plowed his vehicle into New Year's revelers in New Orleans has been identified.
Shamsud Din Jabbar was named by the FBI as the driver who rammed a white pickup truck at high speed into a crowd of pedestrians in the city's packed French Quarter district at 3:15 am along Bourbon Street.
He was killed in a firefight with police following the sickening attack which left two officers wounded.
Din Jabbar has been formally identified as the driver behind the horror slaughter early on New Year's Day.
Eyewitnesses said Din Jabbar got out of the truck wearing full body armor and wielding an assault rifle.
He is a 42-year-old American citizen born and raised in Texas who formerly served in the US Army.
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It comes as...
- FBI investigating ramming as an 'act of terrorism'
- Driver went around barricades to hit crowds
- Suspect has been shot dead by police
- Ten dead, a further 35 injured
- Two police officers shot by suspect in hospital
- Trump says attack 'act of pure evil'
The first victim in Wednesday morning's horrifying attack has been identified as an 18-year-old girl.
Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux from Gulfport, Mississippi had traveled to New Orleans with her cousin and a friend to celebrate the New Year.
Her grieving mother, Melissa Dedeaux, confirmed the tragic news to .
At least two IEDs found in the French Quarter have been rendered safe, while more in the area are being investigated.
Security services are investigating a video purportedly showing three men and one woman planting bombs before the attack.
It has not been confirmed whether any of the men in the video is Din Jabbar.
The FBI does not believe Din Jabbar was "solely responsible" for the attack and has asked for the public's help in tracking down associates, a regional chief said at the same press conference.
has reported that some four or five others are suspected of having helped him carry out the deadly attack.
He rented the truck in Texas through Turo - a carsharing app also used to rent a Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday morning.
There is no suggestion yet that the incidents were linked.
NewsNation has reported that the bodies of the dead remained on Bourbon Street on Wednesday afternoon.
In 2002, he was arrested in the town of Katy for misdemeanor theft.
Three years later, he was arrested in Beaumont for driving with an invalid license, also a misdemeanor.
He reportedly enlisted in the US Navy in August 2004 but was discharged one month later from the delayed entry program.
Din Jabbar later served in the US Army from 2006 to 2015 and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009.
The FBI's Houston, Texas branch carried out investigations in the north of the city it what it says was activity "related to this morning's New Orleans attack."
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Bourbon Street, known worldwide as one of the largest destinations for New Year’s Eve parties, was packed at the time as crowds prepared for the planned Sugar Bowl college football playoff game at the nearby Superdome later in the day.
The game between Notre Dame and the University of Georgia was postponed on Wednesday afternoon after Police Commissioner Anne Kirkpatrick had earlier said the game would go ahead as scheduled.
Reports say a University of Georgia student was critically wounded in the attack.
The ramming attack occurred near the intersection of Bourbon Street and Canal Street.
It comes just weeks before New Orleans is due to host the Super Bowl at the Caesars Superdome on February 9.
Security chiefs have locked down the Superdome, just a six-minute drive from the scene of the attack, following Wednesday morning's tragedy.
Addressing reporters earlier on Wednesday, Kirkpatrick said the driver deliberately went around barriers and drove intentionally into pedestrians in a clear attempt to maim and kill as many people as possible.
“Last night we had over 300 officers out here," she said.
"And because of the intentional mindset of this perpetrator who went around our barricades in order to conduct this, he was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did."
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She added, "This man was trying to run over as many people as he could. It was not a DUI situation."
A New Orleans city council member said the barricades normally keeping vehicles away from Bourbon Street were under repair at the time of the attack, which allowed the pickup truck to enter the pedestrianized area.