New Year turned into tragedy in New Orleans as a terrorist rammed into a celebration crowd on the famous Bourbon Street in the early hours Wednesday. At least 10 were killed and 35 others were injured and the attacker, identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, was killed in a gunfight with the law enforcement officials.
New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell called the New Orleans incident a terror attack in the early hours but then FBI special agent Alethea Duncan at the morning press conference said it was not a terrorist event — hours before the FBI issued a statement confirming that they would be investigating it as a terrorist event.
The contradictory statement of the mayor and the FBI agent and then FBI’s 180-degree change of stance over the incident confused people who criticized the administration for not having any clarity over what actually happened in New Orleans.
While Alethea Duncan became a laughing stock on social media for her assertion that it was not a terrorist event, Donald Trump Jr shared the clip to mock the agent. Elon Musk chimed in.
“It’s not a terrorist attack! It’s just a mostly peaceful improvised explosive!” Donald Trump Jr wrote sharing Duncan’s initial statement. “Insane,” Elon Musk replied.
“This is not a terrorist event. What it is right now is imposed explosive devices that were found. We are working on confirming if this is a viable device of not,” Agent Duncan said in her statement issued at the very early stage of the investigation.
What the FBI found later: ISIS flag in killer truck
Hours into the investigation, the FBI said it was investigating the case as a terrorist attack. As the investigation progressed fast, the FBI identified the killer as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, a Texas man. “An ISIS flag was located in the vehicle and the FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations,” the FBI said adding that they were also probing whether Jabbar acted alone.
