New Orleans suspect identified, FBI says whether he acted alone in New Orleans attack
The suspect who allegedly drove into a joyous crowd at a New Year’s celebration in New Orleans, Louisiana, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, has been identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar by the FBI.
Jabbar—who died at the scene of the attack—was a U.S.-born citizen who lived in Texas, FBI Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Alethea Duncan said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
In 2012, Jabbar and Nakedra Charrlle Jabbar’s marriage came to an end. The New York Times reported that his second marriage also came to an end in 2022.
The Times also reported that the pair shared two children together. Court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital showed that Jabbar missed child support payments to the couple’s children.
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Army Service:
The FBI also revealed that Jabbar was an Army veteran.
“What I can tell you, the person was an Army veteran,” Duncan said. “We believe he was [an] honorable discharge. But we’re working through this process to figure out all this information.”
Jabbar served in the Army as a Human Resource Specialist and Information Technology (IT) Specialist from March 2007 until Jan. 2015.
Following active duty, he served in the Army Reserves as an IT Specialist from Jan. 2015 until July 2020.
During his tenure, he deployed to Afghanistan from Feb. 2009 to Jan. 2010.
He was also awarded a variety of distinguishments throughout his service, including a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
His awards included the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Campaign star, Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, NATO Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Parachutist Badge, and the Driver and Mechanic Badge.
Prior to his service in the Army, Fox News confirmed that he attempted to first join the Navy. He was discharged before he could have served in the Navy.
“Our records show that a Shamsuddin Bahar Jabbar enlisted on Aug. 12, 2004, in Navy Recruiting District Houston and was discharged from the Delayed Entry Program one month later on Sept. 13, 2004. He did not go to Recruit Training Command,” the spokesperson with the U.S. Navy said.
Criminal Record:
Jabbar was charged with two minor crimes in 2002 and 2005, according to documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.
In 2002, he was charged with misdemeanor theft in Katy, Texas and in 2005 with driving with an invalid license.
Voting Record:
He has an active voting registration in Texas, according to records reviewed by Fox News Digital. Texas does not have partisan voting registration.
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He previously resided in North Carolina, where, in 2012, he was registered as a Democrat.
The recent terrorist attack in New Orleans comes on the heels of the devastating German Christmas market attack in December.
The incident, which was investigated as a terrorist act. Five people were reportedly killed and more than 200 were injured in the incident, according to reports.
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The Magdeburg Police Department said in a translated post that the suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor. They said their current assumption is that he was a “lone perpetrator.”
1 dead, several hurt after Tesla Cybertruck bursts into flames outside Trump hotel
A Tesla Cybertruck that exploded in front of Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, killing one person and injuring seven others, contained gasoline and camp fuel containers, as well as large firework mortars, according to authorities.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a press conference on Wednesday that investigators know who rented the Cybertruck, which was acquired in Colorado, though they are not prepared to identify that person without 100% certainty.
McMahill also said investigators were able to trace the truck through Tesla charging stations. License plate readers in Las Vegas first detected the vehicle at about 7:30 a.m., and McMahill said it traveled up and down Las Vegas Boulevard before pulling into the Trump hotel valet area.
Within 15-20 seconds of pulling up to the hotel, the sheriff added, the vehicle exploded.
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During the press conference, the sheriff showed a video of the truck bed, which showed it was filled with gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars.
But the sheriff also pointed to the exterior of the truck and how it was still completely intact after the explosion.
“The fact that this was a Cybertruck, really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out,” McMahill said. “In fact, if you look on that video, you’ll see that the front glass doors at the Trump hotel were not even broken by the blast.”
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While the blast did not damage the glass doors, seven individuals sustained minor injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital.
As for all the guests at the hotel, they were taken in by another hotel as the investigation into the explosion continues.
Like McMahill, Jeremy Schwartz, the FBI acting special agent in charge in Las Vegas, would not identify the person inside the vehicle, saying, “Our number one goal is to ensure that we have proper identification of the subject involved in the incident.”
The second objective, Schwartz said, was to determine whether the explosion was an act of terrorism, which is being investigated by a joint terrorism task force.
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The special agent said the task force is made up of law enforcement officials from the area.
“We’re not doing anything alone, and we wouldn’t do anything alone without our partners making sure that we’re all in lockstep,” Schwartz said. “We’ve learned from mistakes in the past, and we’re not going to do that again.”
The Cybertruck explosion was the second suspicious deadly incident in a major city since the start of 2025.
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Early Wednesday morning, a man later identified as Shamsud Din Jabbar, drove a pickup truck into a crowd on the famed Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing over a dozen people, and injuring dozens more.
The truck Din Jabbar drove was rented from the peer-to-peer car rental company Turo, as was the Cybertruck that burst into flames in Las Vegas. Din Jabbar’s rented vehicle also donned an ISIS flag on its trailer hitch.
A Turo spokesperson told Fox News Digital the company does not believe either renter in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had criminal backgrounds that would have identified them as a security threat.
“We are heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and families,” the spokesperson said. “We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals.”
Schwartz said the FBI believes the explosion in Las Vegas was an isolated incident.
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“We do not believe that there’s a bunch of folks out there supporting this or helping this, and we don’t believe that there’s any other danger to the community right now,” he said, reassuring the community that over the next few hours and days, they will do what they can to get to the bottom of the incident.
McMahill said he did not know whether the two were connected but would not rule it out. He also said the Cybertruck did not have an ISIS flag like the truck in New Orleans, but every aspect is being investigated.
The preliminary investigation to this point involved input from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who McMahill said gave quite a bit of information about how the vehicle was locked after it exploded because of the force from the explosion.
Musk also helped when it came to capturing surveillance footage from Tesla charging stations across the country.
WHO IS SHAMSUD DIN JABBAR? WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS NEW YEARS’ TERRORIST SUSPECT
The billionaire kept followers up to date about the Cybertruck explosion on his social media platform X.
“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. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion,” Musk wrote in one post.
“The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards,” he said in another post. “Not even the glass doors of the lobby were broken.”
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President Biden also weighed in on the Las Vegas explosion.
“We’re tracking the explosion of a Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas,” he said while speaking about the fatal crash in New Orleans. “Law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating this as well, including whether there’s any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans. Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score at this time.”
Eagles star speaks out after team denies him a chance to break longtime NFL record
Saquon Barkley addressed his team’s decision to rest him in the last game of the season, causing him to miss out on a chance to break the NFL single-season rushing record.
The Philadelphia Eagles star told reporters on Wednesday that he is “down” about head coach Nick Sirianni’s decision to keep him out of the game against the New York Giants on Sunday. Barkley said that he talked with Siranni about the decision after last Sunday’s win against the Dallas Cowboys, and wasn’t as eager about it then, but became more invested in breaking the record after sleeping on it.
Now, he won’t get that opportunity and isn’t sure if he ever will again.
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“He asked me if I wanted to play if I wanted to go for, I said, on Sunday, I probably didn’t care too much for it. When I slept on it it was like, it’s an opportunity to implant my name in football history. I may never get another opportunity like that again. So I’m down, but in the end of the day, I don’t care if we’re putting the team at risk,” Barkley said.
Barkley said he also told his family about the situation, and they wanted him to break the record even more than he does.
“I told my family, obviously. My family probably wanted it a little bit more than me,” Barkley said.
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Still, Barkley accepts the decision and is more invested in being available to help his team win in the playoffs.
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is winning football games and winning in the playoffs, and I have a bigger goal in mind,” Barkley said.
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Barkley, with 2,005 rushing yards this year, is 100 shy of Eric Dickerson’s record for the most rushing yards in a single season. Dickerson broke the record with 2,105 yards for the Los Angeles Rams in 1984.
In 1984, Dickerson topped 100 yards rushing 12 times to break O.J. Simpson’s 1973 record with Buffalo of 2,003 yards rushing in a single season. Dickerson needed 379 carries to set the record, while Barkley had 345 carries this season.
Barkley signed a three-year deal with the Eagles for $26 million guaranteed and $37.75 million overall, making him the highest-paid running back in franchise history.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts issues warning weeks before Trump inauguration
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a warning on Tuesday that the United States must maintain “judicial independence” just weeks away from President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Roberts explained his concerns in his annual report on the federal judiciary.
“It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy. Most cases have a winner and a loser. Every Administration suffers defeats in the court system—sometimes in cases with major ramifications for executive or legislative power or other consequential topics,” Robert wrote in the 15-page report. “Nevertheless, for the past several decades, the decisions of the courts, popular or not, have been followed, and the Nation has avoided the standoffs that plagued the 1950s and 1960s.”
“Within the past few years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” Roberts said, without naming Trump, President Biden or any specific lawmaker. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected. Judicial independence is worth preserving. As my late colleague Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, an independent judiciary is ‘essential to the rule of law in any land,’ yet it ‘is vulnerable to assault; it can be shattered if the society law exists to serve does not take care to assure its preservation.’”
“I urge all Americans to appreciate this inheritance from our founding generation and cherish its endurance,” Roberts said.
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Roberts also quoted Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who remarked that the three branches of government “must work in successful cooperation” to “make possible the effective functioning of the department of government which is designed to safeguard with judicial impartiality and independence the interests of liberty.”
“Our political system and economic strength depend on the rule of law,” Roberts wrote.
A landmark Supreme Court immunity decision penned by Roberts, along with another high court decision halting efforts to disqualify Trump from the ballot, were championed as major victories on the Republican nominee’s road to winning the election. The immunity decision was criticized by Democrats like Biden, who later called for term limits and an enforceable ethics code following criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.
A handful of Democrats and one Republican lawmaker urged Biden to ignore a decision by a Trump-appointed judge to revoke FDA approval for the abortion drug mifepristone last year. Biden declined to take executive action to bypass the ruling, and the Supreme Court later granted the White House a stay permitting the sale of the medication to continue.
The high court’s conservative majority also ruled last year that Biden’s massive student loan debt forgiveness efforts constitute an illegal use of executive power.
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Roberts and Trump clashed in 2018 when the chief justice rebuked the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an “Obama judge.”
In 2020, Roberts criticized comments made by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York while the Supreme Court was considering a high-profile abortion case.
Roberts introduced his letter Tuesday by recounting a story about King George III stripping colonial judges of lifetime appointments, an order that was “not well received.” Trump is now readying for a second term as president with an ambitious conservative agenda, elements of which are likely to be legally challenged and end up before the court whose conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump during his first term.
In the annual report, the chief justice wrote generally that even if court decisions are unpopular or mark a defeat for a presidential administration, other branches of government must be willing to enforce them to ensure the rule of law. Roberts pointed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegrated schools in 1954 as one that needed federal enforcement in the face of resistance from southern governors.
He also said “attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed.”
While public officials and others have the right to criticize rulings, they should also be aware that their statements can “prompt dangerous reactions by others,” Roberts wrote.
Threats targeting federal judges have more than tripled over the last decade, according to U.S. Marshals Service statistics. State court judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were killed at their homes in 2022 and 2023, Roberts wrote.
“Violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable,” he wrote.
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Roberts also pointed to disinformation about court rulings as a threat to judges’ independence, saying that social media can magnify distortions and even be exploited by “hostile foreign state actors” to exacerbate divisions.
Comedian Jim Gaffigan admits he has a regret about his old anti-Trump posts
Superstar stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan recently weighed in on his previous anti-Trump social media posts from 2020, saying he regrets that supporters of President-elect Donald Trump took his criticism personally.
Gaffigan, who recently played former Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., on “Saturday Night Live,” discussed his negative feelings surrounding the old tweets in a new interview with “The Daily Beast.”
“I regret that people think that I was criticizing people that support Trump. And that was never the intention. I regret – someone said like, now I can’t follow you anymore and I kind of said ‘F you’ to them,” the comedian stated.
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Gaffigan lashed out at Trump in a series of tweets back in 2020, when X was still Twitter and Trump was running for re-election. In one, he wrote, “Look Trumpers I get it. As a kid I was a cubs fan and I know you stick by your team no matter what but he’s a traitor and a con man who doesn’t care about you. Deep down you know it. I’m sure you enjoy pissing people off but you know Trump is a liar and a criminal.”
In another, he bashed Trump for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing, “You know Trump just creates enemies. You know you can’t trust him. You know he been incompetent during this crisis. You know all those people didn’t need to die. Trump talks about the Space Program and you can’t safely go to a movie. Wake up.”
Four years later, Gaffigan told the outlet his regrets about how the posts were taken by some people, but insisted he doesn’t regret posting them.
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“But it’s weird because I think authenticity is really an important thing, not only as a comedian, but also with your children,” he said, adding, “For me, I don’t regret it, but I also do acknowledge that there are true die-hard Trump fans who probably enjoyed my comedy, but because they feel so passionately will never forgive me.”
Gaffigan went on, acknowledging that alienating people in such a way is just part of being a comedian.
“But also, something I’ve noticed in doing stand-up for so long is, you’re going to lose people. You’re also going to attract people. But there are going to be people who are like, you know, ‘I don’t have kids, I think he’s funny, but I don’t get this.’”
When asked if he felt as if he had lost many fans following those posts, he replied, “I wouldn’t say it was measurable. But there were definitely comments on social media, and there are still some. My son, who’s so funny — I posted something, and my 18-year-old son commented, ‘I liked him until he went on his Trump rant.’”
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The outlet also asked the comedian how he felt about the flak he got for performing at the recent Al Smith Dinner in New York City. During his set, Gaffigan took shots at Trump, who was in attendance that evening, and at Vice President Kamala Harris, who declined the invite.
He remarked on being slammed by liberals who accused him of making light of Trump in the routine.
“I was ‘normalizing a fascist,’ right? I knew going into it that I was going to get criticism from both sides. I’m not a roast comedian. I mean, I love politics, but I just don’t talk about it,” he said.
“So I knew that if I did jokes about either side that there was going to be some blowback. But I also thought it was worth it.”
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Seat squatting on flight in New Year riles up passengers: ‘Couldn’t believe’ it
The “seat squatter” trend may have dominated travel experiences in 2024 — but it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon in this New Year of 2025.
Travelers continue to reveal their “seat-squatting” encounters on social media as commenters chime in and debate the hot issue.
An experience shared on Reddit in the “r/delta” forum with the caption, “Seat squatter caught and rude entire flight,” has continued to spark discussion.
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The term “seat squatters” has been used to refer to those who rob the seats that were selected and paid for by other travelers.
Discussing a flight from Cancún, Mexico, to Los Angeles, California, the traveler posted, “I couldn’t even believe my eyes after seeing all the seat squatter posts.”
The person added, “We’re finally boarding and this couple about our age (late 20s/early 30s) is in our row, which can’t be right because we’re [in] the middle and aisle [seats]. I tell them they’re in my seat … and they oddly start fumbling around and mentioning they have a dog with them.”
The user said she responded that she was allergic to dogs — and that she paid for the seats.
He placed his arm over the armrest, applying pressure to her arm, she said.
“They both start fumbling around more and [the] female, who was originally in the window seat [that] I presume they did actually book, and [the] male who was sitting in my seat, both get out of the row so the female and dog can go to the window seat behind us,” she added.
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The man, for his part, then moved to the window seat in her row, she said.
He placed his arm over the armrest, applying pressure to her arm — which prompted her to switch seats with her fiancé in the row, she said.
“Once we finally get off the plane … my fiancé tells me this guy silently fought with him over the armrest the same way he did with me for the entire flight,” she wrote in her post.
“I cannot rationalize how or why this man did this when we did absolutely nothing to him other than ask to sit in our own seats,” the poster added in her story.
Reddit users took to the comment section to assess the situation and share their own experiences with “seat squatters.”
“I doubt people that are already OK with breaking the rules are going to be great people.”
“It’s only happened to me once, thankfully. But my rule of thumb is that I’ll be polite on the initial interaction in case it’s a legitimate unintentional mistake [that] they’re sitting in my seat. In that case, they’ll get up and move and there’s no harm, no foul,” said one.
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Another added, “Omg, it sounds like you were flying with a bunch of bratty teenagers.”
“I doubt people that are already OK with breaking the rules are going to be great people, unfortunately,” commented yet another user.
Some users debated the notion of which passenger gets the armrests in the middle seat.
“The ‘middle seat gets both armrests’ thing is entirely an online knowledge thing. Yes, it’s courteous & makes sense if you think about it, but the average [person who] flies once/twice per year … likely doesn’t know or think about it,” commented one user.
Another stated, “Everyone knows the middle seat gets both arm rests.”
“The middle person does not in fact get both arm rests,” another user said. “That’s a made-up rule and you can’t get mad at someone who doesn’t follow that.”
Gary Leff, a Texas-based travel industry expert and author of the blog “View From the Wing,” told Fox News Digital that the person holding the seat assignment on their boarding pass is entitled to that seat.
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“[Flyers] may not be able to get what they want from the airline when reserving seats, or the airline may want a fee for the seats they want and the passenger doesn’t want to pay — so they’ll try their luck on board,” said Leff.
Leff suggested that instead of stealing seats, flyers can try asking others directly to swap seats with them.
California-based etiquette expert Rosalinda Randall told Fox News Digital that “it is never OK to seat-squat once on board. Eventually, the passenger with that seat assignment will claim it.”
“Immediately request assistance from the flight attendant.”
Randall said when dealing with a seat squatter, it is best to address the situation calmly and in good faith.
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“If the seat squatter refuses to move, do not engage; do not recruit other passengers to rally,” she said.
Rather, “immediately request assistance from the flight attendant.”