IT took just minutes for an armed motorist to kill at least 15 people in a terrifying rampage on New Orleans before he was shot dead by cops.
Harrowing footage has revealed how the terror attack unfolded with heroic cops rushing to the scene to finally end the New Year’s Day massacre.
The FBI are leading investigations into the deadly incident with them naming 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar as the main suspect.
Officials say he was the man behind the wheel with his body being identified after he was killed in the firefight.
Officers have already started to piece together the suspect‘s movements both prior to the rampage and in the minutes leading up to it.
They believe the truck was rented in Texas – the same place where Jabbar is said to be registered with a property in Sugar Land.
The Ford was reportedly first picked up by the suspect from Houston on December 30.
It is not registered to Jabbar and has Texas plates.
Vehicle sharing app Turo confirmed the truck had been rented through their site and they are now working with the FBI.
It was then spotted being taken through Baytown, Texas a day later and heading towards Louisiana, New Orleans.
Just a few hours later the truck reappeared in the city’s bustling French Quarter which was packed out with people celebrating the start of 2025.
At approximately 3:15am on Wednesday, the frightening assault began, with Jabbar seen driving along Canal Street and then onto Bourbon Street.
Chilling footage shows the driver swerving around barricades set up to stop cars from passing before speeding up and smashing into dozens of people.
Cops believe Jabbar intentionally rammed revellers with the white pickup as he was trying to “run over as many people as he possibly could”.
New Orleans police superintendent, Anne Kirkpatrick, later said the man was “hellbent on creating carnage”.
She added that the gunman drove the truck “at a very fast pace”.
“This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil,” she added.
After the initial deadly rampage, the suspect is believed to have crashed into a separate car before jumping out of the truck.
Wearing full body armour Jabbar then allegedly opened fire with an assault rifle.
He killed at least 15 people with many others being left struggling on the ground after being caught up in the devastating attack.
Within minutes of cops first being told of the potential terror attack officers swarmed the area.
A firefight then broke out between the suspect and cops before the man was shot dead as three separate officers are said to have hit him.
The truck was searched by officers who uncovered pipe bombs concealed within coolers.
They were wired for remote detonation, a state police intelligence bulletin found by AP said.
Two other bombs were also found in the French Quarter, local media reports
The remote that controlled two of the weapons had also been found with the suspect’s belongings along with two mason jars filled with explosives.
Who was Shamsud Din Jabbar?
THE man police suspect drove his car into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revellers in New Orleans was 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar.
He is believed to have killed 15 people in what authorities are investigating as a terrorist attack before cops shot him dead.
More details are emerging about the US Army veteran who was born and lived in Texas.
Jabbar had a criminal history after being arrested in Katy, Texas, in 2002 for misdemeanor theft.
He was also arrested in 2005 for driving without an invalid license.
Documents viewed by The U.S. Sun confirmed Jabbar held a real estate license from 2019 until it expired in February 2021.
Jabbar identified himself as a Team Lead at the Midas Group and a Property Manager at Blue Meadow Properties in a YouTube video posted on May 12, 2020.
He shared that he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, but was living in Houston at the time of the video.
During his 10-year stint in the Army, Jabbar said he served as a human resources specialist and IT specialist from 2007 to 2015.
He was deployed to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010.
Between 2015 and 2020 he served in the Army Reserve as an IT specialist, the Army said.
Jabbar is a dad to two daughters and had two previous wives.
It’s unclear when his second divorce happened, but court files show that a restraining order was granted against him in 2020.
According to a court filing reported by The New York Times in August 2022 as part of a divorce case, the suspect claimed to be employed at Deloitte, an accounting firm, earning an approximate annual salary of $120,000.
An ISIS flag was found in the truck by cops following the attack after it had been attached to a pole on the truck’s trailer hitch, the FBI said.
Jabbar had only converted to Islam within the last year and was “being all crazy” the new husband of his ex-wife said, the New York Times reports.Â
As cops started to look for a motive behind the senseless killings they discovered a nearby Airbnb which also contained bomb making material, according to police.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the city’s mayor LaToya Cantrell said victims were still lying on Bourbon Street as the sun came up.
Alethea Duncan, FBI assistant special agent in charge, said: “We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates.”
The death toll sat at 10 for most of Wednesday but rose to 15 after an update from New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna.
The identities of victims have begun to emerge following the tragedy with Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux named by her grieving mother.
Melissa Dedeaux said her 18-year-old daughter “was the sweetest person. She would give you anything, anything,” Nola reports.
Other victims have been named as dad-of-two Reggie Hunter, 37, and football player Tiger Bech, 27.
CYBERTRUCK HORRORS
As investigations opened up into the New Orleans tragedy another atrocity rocked the US.
A Tesla Cybertruck parked outside one of Donald Trump‘s hotels suddenly exploded just before 9am on Tuesday.
The terrifying blast killed the driver of the truck and injured several others.
Cops are probing the deadly explosion to see if it was an “act of terror” after they found fireworks, gas tanks, and camping fuel inside the burnt out motor.
These were all connected to a detonation system controlled by the driver, CNN reports.
The identity of the alleged bomber has since been revealed as US Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger.
Cops reportedly swarmed one of his home addresses in Colorado Springs late on Wednesday to search the property.
Shocking footage caught the moment the Cybertruck erupted outside the glass entrance of the Trump International Hotel.
Loud bangs can be heard throughout the short video as black smokes fill the Nevada air as the car goes up in flames.
It stayed on fire for several minutes before ambulances and multiple cop cars rushed to the hotel, located just off the main world-famous Las Vegas Strip.
Tesla chief Elon Musk soon commented on the incident as he took to X to confirm the blast wasn’t caused by the Cybertruck itself but instead due to “very large fireworks and/or a bomb”.
The billionaire tech mogul added his team has “never seen anything like this” happen to a Tesla.
It was later revealed that both Livelsberger and the New Orlean’s suspect Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar had a number of links to each other.
Both men are believed to have used the app Turo to rent the vehicles which were involved in the attacks, according to reports.
With them also both serving at the same military base in New Orleans in the past.
However, investigators are yet to confirm any potential relationship or connections between the two suspects.
President Biden did reference the possibility as he said federal law enforcements are investigating and tracking the incidents.
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.”
