No ‘definitive link’ yet between New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks, despite strange coincidences
While investigators in the US have not yet found a “definitive link”, coincidences between two horrific New Year’s incidents are getting attention.
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Investigators in the United States say there is not yet any evidence of a “definitive link” between the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans and the explosion of a Cybertruck outside one of Donald Trump’s properties in Las Vegas hours later.
There are, however, strange coincidences in the respective backgrounds, and methods, of each incident’s alleged perpetrator.
According to investigators, the driver of a pick-up truck who killed 14 people and injured dozens more in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, and the driver of the Cybertruck that blew up outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Matthew Alan Livelsberger, both rented the vehicles in question through the same car-sharing app, Turo.
They were also both members of the US Army. Jabbar was honoroubly discharged in 2020, while Livelsberger remained an active member of the military, but was on leave at the time of the explosion.
The two men served at the same military base, Fort Bragg, though it appears their time there did not overlap.
And both served on tours to Afghanistan. Jabbar and Livelsberger were both there in 2009, though the authorities say there’s no evidence to suggest they were ever in the same location or unit.
“As you know, there is an FBI investigation in Las Vegas. We are following up on all potential leads and not ruling anything out,” FBI deputy assistant director Christopher Raia said during a press conference addressing the New Orleans attack today.
“At this point, there is no known definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas,” he stressed.
Twin attacks
Jabbar, drove a pick-up truck into a crowd of New Year’s revellers early on the morning of January 1, US time, killing 14 and injuring dozens.
The Cybertruck blast, which police believe was deliberate, left seven people with minor injuries. According to the authorities, there is evidence that the vehicle’s occupant shot himself dead before the explosion.
Both incidents are being treated as possible acts of terrorism, and investigators now believe Jabbar was “100 per cent inspired” by the Islamic State.
In fresh remarks today, US President Joe Biden said his nation would not be “overcome” by the attacker’s “deluded ideology”.
“We will continue to relentlessly pursue ISIS and other terrorist organisations where they are, and they will find no safe harbour here,” Mr Biden said.
‘Burnt beyond recognition’
The Cybertruck, which blew up outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas a touch before 9am on New Year’s Day, had been rented by Livelsberger, a 37-year-old member of the US Army.
Investigators believe Livelsberger was the only person inside the vehicle, though they’re awaiting confirmation from DNA testing, given the condition of the body.
“His body is burnt beyond recognition. I still do not have confirmation, 100 per cent, that he is the individual that was inside our vehicle,” Sheriff Kevin McMahill, head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said at a press conference today.
The body inside the Cybertruck had “sustained a gunshot wound to the head prior to the detonation of the vehicle”, and a handgun was found at its feet.
Sheriff McMahill said Livelsberger is the only suspect at this time and there is not believed to be any ongoing threat to the community.
“(There) is a tremendous amount of substantial evidence that he rented the vehicle. There are two tattoos, one of which was on the stomach and one of which is on the arm that we can see bits and pieces of, in comparison to what it is that we now know he had on his body.”
New Orleans driver ‘100 per cent inspired’ by ISIS
Meanwhile Jabbar’s motive has been firmed up by the FBI, including his chilling first preference, which was to harm his own family rather than strangers.
In a press conference today, federal investigators said they believed Jabbar had acted alone. That was a major change from just 24 hours previously, when the FBI stated its belief that the suspect had multiple accomplices.
Jabbar, a US-born citizen who grew up in Texas, was killed in a firefight with police after driving a pick-up truck, which he’d rented, into a crowd of people.
Fourteen of his victims died, and 35 others who were injured, on New Orleans’ bustling Bourbon St in the French Quarter at 3.15am on New Year’s Day.
Speaking today, FBI deputy assistant director Christopher Raia said the organisation was “aggressively” investigating the incident, which is being treated as a premeditated, “evil” act of terrorism.
“I went down to the crime scene last night, it is very hard to put into words what it looked like and how difficult it was to see,” Mr Raia said.
Bourbon Street has now been cleared of victims, and reopened to the public on Thursday.
Mr Raia laid out the clearest timeline we’ve had so far of the lead-up to the attack.
Jabbar, who worked at the accountancy firm Deloitte and was formerly in the US Army, rented a white Ford F-150 Lightning pick-up in Houston, Texas, on December 30.
He then drove the vehicle to New Orleans, in Louisiana, on New Year’s Eve.
Early on January 1, he posted several videos on Facebook professing his support for the Islamic State and motive, including at 1.29am and 3.02am, just minutes before he drove into scores of people.
“In the first video, Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers,’” said Mr Raia.
“Additionally, he stated he had joined ISIS before this summer. He also provided a will and testament.
“He was 100 per cent inspired by ISIS.”
Mr Raia said the investigation would focus on his “path to radicalisation”.
Jabbar was divorced twice. It’s been reported that despite a generous salary at Deloitte, he paid much of it out in child support and various debt repayments.
“The FBI briefed me that as of now, we have no information that anyone else was involved in the attack,” Mr Biden said at the White House today.
He confirmed that Jabbar himself placed explosive devices in New Orleans’ French Quarter - not other people, as authorities initially thought - and that a remote detonator was found in the vehicle.
“They’ve established that the attacker is the same person who planted the explosives in those ice coolers in two nearby locations in the French Quarter just a few hours before he rammed into the crowd with his vehicle,” the President said.
“They assessed he had a remote detonator in his vehicle to set off those two ice chests.”
Mr Biden said Investigators were “actively investigating any foreign or domestic contacts and connections that could possibly be relevant to the attack”.
Acted alone
Mr Raia said that “we do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack, except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar”.
Louisiana Governor Geoff Landry was asked how the authorities could be so sure no one else was involved when on Wednesday, reporters were told Jabbar likely had accomplices.
“Information changes,” he said.
“No one does 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and puts it together in five seconds.”
Mr Raia said the initial conclusion that other people were involved was derived from the fact that improvised explosive devices had been found in coolers, which several people handled.
“We did obtain surveillance footage showing Jabbar placing the devices where they were found,” he said.
“Many people stopped and looked at the cooler and then continued on their way. (But) let’s be clear, we do not believe at this point these people are involved in this incident in any way.”
Shocking footage caught the moment the car erupted outside the glass entrance of the Trump International Hotel just before 9am on Wednesday.
Loud bangs can be heard throughout the short video as black smoke fills the Nevada air.
The Cybertruck was ripped apart, with its metal panelling flying across the street. Up to seven people were injured.
Elon Musk, whose company Tesla makes the Cybertruck model, claimed the blast was “terrorism” related and that the two events may have been linked.
President Joe Biden spoke out after the incident saying that there was a possible link between the two suspects.
Speaking on the Las Vegas blast, the outgoing president said: “Law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating this as well, including whether there is any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans.
“Thus far there is nothing to report on that score for this time.”
Police reportedly swarmed an addresses in Colorado Springs, Colorado, late on Wednesday to search the property, KTNV reported.
The truck was also thoroughly checked after the flames were extinguished with police discovering fireworks, gas tanks, and camping fuel.
These were all connected to a detonation system controlled by the driver, CNN reports.
In a post to X, Mr Musk claimed it had been confirmed that the explosion was caused by “very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck”. He said the incident, which saw the car burst into flames, is “unrelated to the vehicle itself”.
“All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk said.
Investigators revealed that “large firework mortars” and gas canisters were found in the back of the vehicle.
Mr Musk went on to claim the “evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack”.
“Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards. Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken,” he said.
We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 1, 2025
All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion. https://t.co/HRjb87YbaJ
Speaking at a press conference regarding the Cybertruck explosion, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill referenced the New Orleans attack but did not explicitly link the two cases.
Mr McMahill revealed the truck had been rented in Colorado, with authorities tracing the Cybertruck through Tesla charging stations.
“I have to thank Elon Musk specifically. He gave us quite a bit of additional information in regards to how the vehicle was locked after it exploded, due to … the nature of the force from the explosion,” he said.
“[They were] able to capture all of the video from Tesla charging stations across the country.[Musk] sent that truck directly to us, so I appreciate his help on that.”
The vehicle arrived in Las Vegas at around 7.30am local time, driving up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before pulling up outside the hotel.
The explosion was reported at about 8.40am local time.
“We were told that a 2024 Cybertruck pulled up to the front of the hotel, and, in fact, I can tell you it pulled right up to the glass entrance doors of the hotel,” Mr McMahill said.
“We saw smoke start showing from the vehicle, and then an explosion from the truck occurs.”
He said authorities were investigating a “number of leads”.
A guest who was staying at the hotel when the explosion occurred recounted that the force of the blast had shaken the windows.
The man, who goes by the name Stephen Felando on X, filmed the clouds of smoke billowing below his room.
“Holy s*** a massive explosion just happened here … Something major just exploded here at the Las Vegas Trump international,” he said.
“Something just went off in the valet section. Something just blew, the windows here shimmied and shared. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Originally published as No ‘definitive link’ yet between New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks, despite strange coincidences
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