dpa
New York
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Friday said the attacker in the New Orleans car ramming tried to destroy evidence before killing 14 people in a terrorist attack in the southern US city on New Year’s morning.
Separately they also confirmed that the Las Vegas Tesla Cybertruck explosion in front of a hotel owned by President-elect Donald Trump was the result of a suicide and that the two incidences had nothing to do with each other.
In the New Orleans incident, materials for bomb-making, among other items, were secured in a rented accommodation, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced. The attacker attempted to destroy that evidence by starting a small fire in the hallway, the ATF said. He spread accelerants around the house to destroy evidence of his planned attack, but before the fire could spread to other rooms, it extinguished itself, the authorities said. By then the man had already left the building.
The ATF later determined that the identified attacker, Shamsud-Din J, was the only person who could have had access to the location when the fire was set. On Thursday the FBI said the attacker had acted alone.
“As we’re being transparent, unfortunately, there is some information that we have to go back and correct,” Christopher Raia, FBI deputy assistant director, told a press conference. “We’re confident at this point that there are no accomplices.” Dozens were injured after the suspect intentionally drove into a crowd of New Year’s revellers in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
The FBI also emphasized that there is currently no connection between the attack in New Orleans and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, which also occurred on New Year’s morning.
