Latest Updates on the Investigation of the Deadly New Orleans Terror Attack

By Maureen Chowdhury, Helen Regan, Andy Rose, Chris Boyette, Rebekah Riess, Elise Hammond, Aditi Sangal and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 8:23 PM EST, Thu January 2, 2025

What we're covering

• The suspect in the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans acted alone, the FBI said Thursday, describing the deadly event as “an act of terrorism.” Fourteen people were killed and dozens injured Wednesday when the man plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in a pickup truck.

• President Joe Biden, citing the FBI, said the attacker planted explosives in ice coolers in the French Quarter just hours before the attack. “They assessed he had a remote detonator in his vehicle to set off those two ice chests,” he said.

• The man, who was killed in a firefight with police after the attack, was identified as an Army veteran from Texas and had an ISIS flag in his vehicle. He said in videos made before the attack that he had joined the terror group, authorities said.

• There is no definitive connection right now between the attack in New Orleans and the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside a Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, the FBI said Thursday.