The United States began the year 2025 with the shock that left at least 15 dead in New Orleans, and in which the driver was killed. Authorities are investigating both events as potential acts of terrorism. The two vehicles involved, both electric, were rented through the same car-sharing application, Turo. In addition, the drivers of both had military backgrounds. However, it is unknown for now if there is a direct connection between the two events, which take place less than three weeks before Donald Trump takes office in his second term as president of the United States. The current president, Joe Biden, “So far, there is nothing to report on this,” said Wednesday in an appearance from the rustic presidential residence of Camp David, in Maryland.
The provisional death toll of 15 makes the New Orleans attack the deadliest attack in the United States since a 40-year-old man with mental problems, most of them at a Lewiston bowling alley. However, unlike that shooting, the mass attack in New Orleans has special connotations. The perpetrator carried an Islamic State (ISIS) flag in the truck with which he drove into the crowd, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He used a procedure that has become common in Islamist terrorism.
The FBI is investigating the perpetrator’s possible associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations. The authorities do not believe that he is the “solely responsible,” according to Alethea Duncan, assistant special agent of the FBI in New Orleans, stated on Wednesday in a press conference in which she asked for citizen collaboration to follow all the leads. Investigators are reviewing video footage showing three men and a woman apparently placing a homemade explosive device related to the attack, according to a Louisiana State Police bulletin obtained by the Associated Press.
Biden pointed out in his appearance on Wednesday that Jabbar spread videos on social networks hours before the attack in which he expressed his desire to kill and indicated that, although without indicating that the author maintained a connection with the Islamic State. The president stressed that the investigation is in a preliminary phase, that the situation is very fluid and that no one should jump to conclusions.
The president also referred to The fact that it was a car manufactured by Tesla, Donald Trump’s company, and that the explosion took place at the door of the Trump International Hotel seems to indicate that it was not an accident. Biden indicated that law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating this event, including “if there is any possible connection to the attack in New Orleans,” indicating that at the moment he did not have information on the matter.
The authorities are also investigating this explosion as a possible act of terrorism, which left one person dead – who was inside the vehicle – and seven slightly injured. Elon Musk ruled out that it was an accidental explosion. “We have confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the trunk of the rented Cybertruck and is not related to the vehicle itself. All the telemetry of the vehicle was positive at the time of the explosion”, The tycoon assured that the solidity of the vehicle prevented greater evils: “The evil knuckleheads chose the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. The Cybertruck contained the explosion and directed it upward. “Not even the glass doors in the lobby were broken,”
At the moment, authorities believe that the Cybertruck explosion is an “isolated incident,” according to Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, and they assure that there is currently no evidence that points to a connection with ISIS, difference from the New Orleans outrage. Jeremy Schwartz, a special agent with the FBI in Las Vegas, said at a news conference that his agency is investigating whether the explosion “was an act of terrorism or not.” “I know everyone is interested in that word and trying to see if we can say, ‘Hey, this is a terrorist attack. “That’s our goal, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” he explained.
The severity of the two events is very different. the busiest in New Orleans and one of the reference places for New Year’s celebrations and, in general, for nightlife in the city of Louisiana. The Las Vegas explosion had much smaller consequences. However, if both events are connected (beyond the fact that the vehicles were rented on the same platform and that the drivers had a military past) or even if they are not directly related to each other, but both are terrorist acts, they acquire a special significance. in the midst of the transition of power in the United States.
Donald Trump will take office at noon on January 20, as established by the Constitution. The president-elect did not comment on his social networks about the explosion outside his hotel. Yes, he did do so about the New Orleans attack, but he did so prematurely, when the identity of the perpetrator had not yet been revealed and suggesting that it was the responsibility of an immigrant.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are much worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the fake news media, but it turned out to be true,” However, he remained silent when it was learned that The author was an American citizen born in Texas and when it emerged that he was carrying an ISIS flag on his electric truck, a Ford F-150 Lighting.
The definition of terrorism is broad and has variable profiles in the United States, both from a legal and conventional point of view. the one arrested for murdering the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. Hate crimes and similar crimes are also usually included under the label of domestic terrorism. The New Orleans attack would be the terrorist attack with the most deaths with 23 deaths (including one who died in 2020 due to complications derived from that act). If the Islamic nature of the attack is confirmed, it would be the deadliest of its kind since, a US citizen of Afghan parents,. After him, it would be the second largest since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
In October 2017, the Uzbek killed eight people and injured 12 others in New York in the worst jihadist attack of Donald Trump’s presidency. After that attack, the then president attacked the visa lottery system, from which Saipov had benefited, blaming the Democrats for its approval.
