Wild footage has surfaced of a shootout on Bourbon Street between police and New Orleans terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar, showing New Year partygoers fleeing for their lives as gunfire erupted in the French Quarter. The FBI is still investigating and, on Thursday, released new photos of Jabbar taken just before the massacre, hoping to prompt fresh tips from the public.
Jabbar rammed his rental truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street early on New Year's Day, killing 14 people and injuring many others. Besides the new images of Jabbar, authorities also released a photo of a cooler that they claim he filled with IEDs and left on Bourbon Street.
Final Moments of the Attacker
The videographer yells, "What the hell! A guy just f–king died!" as he films Jabbar's white Ford pickup truck after it crashes into a construction vehicle on the crowded street early Wednesday morning.
Moments later, dozens of gunshots ring out in the ensuing shootout between police and Jabbar, 42, who had just driven the truck into a crowd celebrating New Year's, killing 14 people and injuring more than 30.
As the gunfire erupts, the videographer and everyone around him scramble for cover, the footage shows.
"Oh crap! Oh hell no!" the person filming exclaims.
The truck's door appears to be open, and a figure, seemingly interacting with police, can briefly be seen on the right side of the video before the videographer takes shelter inside a Bourbon Street business.
In the video, one officer is seen stumbling backward while firing toward the truck.
Other people are shown reacting in different ways—one person walks casually past the wreckage, appearing unaware of the chaos unfolding around him until the gunshots erupt.
Posted Several Disturbing Facebook Videos
Jabbar had pledged his allegiance to ISIS in videos posted on social media before the attack. He shared several disturbing Facebook videos on the morning just before his attack, the FBI said on Thursday. According to authorities, Jabbar posted five videos, one of which allegedly detailed his fixation with ISIS ideology.
Another video, which has not been publicly released, reportedly served as his "will," according to Punchbowl News journalist Mica Soellner.
This came as cops said they are investigating possible connections between Jabbar and Matthew Livelsberger, who detonated a Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Authorities said that they suspect Jabbar may have had accomplices and that he was not acting alone, following the New Orleans attack. Late in the evening, the FBI said "special agents and our law enforcement partners are currently conducting a number of court authorized search warrants in New Orleans and other states."
Jabbar, a U.S. citizen born and raised in Texas, traveled in an electric vehicle from Houston to Louisiana to execute the deadly attack that claimed 15 lives and injured at least 35 others. Jabbar is believed to have prepared the IED explosives at a nearby rental property.
Authorities are investigating the possibility that he used a rented Airbnb property in St. Roch as his base before launching the attack. The FBI recovered bomb-making materials from a two-bedroom, two-bathroom property near the French Quarter.
A total containment vessel was removed from the location around 8 p.m. on New Year's Day, just hours after authorities had evacuated nearby residents.
