After New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell called the New Orleans mass killing a terror attack, an FBI special agent said it was not a terrorist event. But then the agency issued a statement in which it said that they were investigating this as an act of terrorism. “This morning, an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others. The subject then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative agency, and we are working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism,” the FBI said.
Before the statement was released, FBI special agent Alethea Duncan said the New Year horror in New Orleans was not a terror incident. It was an incident that involved IEDs and the agency was probing whether those IEDs were viable or not.
Terror or no terror? What caused FBI’s flip-flop
FBI was even accused of trying a cover-up when the FBI agent said it was not an incident of terror. Social media users raised questions as to why this incident which resulted in a mass murder and involved IEDs would not qualify as an act of terrorism. X users asked how the officials were not on the same page when the city witnessed such a violent attack on New Year’s Day.
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told CNN that it’s possible that the officials were not perfectly connected on how they were going to message this in the early hours when they issued statements. Also, FBI’s definition of terrorism is different from what’s colloquially called an ‘act of terrorism’, CNN interpreted. For the FBI to determine an act was terrorism, a certain kind of intent has to be proved, CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem said adding that it’s possible that the mayor used the term colloquially.
The FBI defines domestic terrorism as “violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.”
What made FBI to probe the incident from terror angle
The FBI did not explain its statement in which it confirmed it would be probing the incident from a terror angle. The details of the IEDs have not yet been revealed. The killer truck was white and it had a flag-like black object tied at the back. Its numberplate is from Texas and it was purchased in August, reports said.
