Federal authorities said a Texas man was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that plowed into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans’ French Quarter early Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more.
The FBI identified the suspect as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen and Army veteran who lived in north Houston, public records show. After ramming into the crowd, Jabbar crashed the truck and opened fire on police, injuring two officers before he was fatally shot by law enforcement, FBI officials said.
Inside Jabbar’s truck — a Ford pickup that “appears to have been rented” — was an Islamic State flag, weapons and a potential improvised explosive device, according to an FBI statement. The agency said it is investigating the slaughter as “an act of terrorism” and looking into how Jabbar gained possession of the vehicle.
But hey, at least elderly Catholic women who protested outside abortion clinics were safely behind bars.
And then a massive explosion in Vegas.
The suspect who rented the Cybertruck that exploded outside of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year's Day has been identified as U.S. Army Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, a Special Operations soldier who was on leave from his base in Germany, investigators said.
After a day of examining the remains found inside the vehicle, the Clark County Coroner confirmed Livelsberger was the driver, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department said. The coroner's office said Livelsberger sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and a handgun was found at his feet.
Seven people suffered minor injuries when the truck, which was filled with fireworks-style mortars and gas canisters, exploded around 8:40 a.m. PT. Investigators believe the explosion was intentional, but hadn't determined a motive, Sherriff Kevin McMahill told reporters at a news conference Thursday.
Emphasis mine.
Look, I'm all for letting the investigation play out to determine what was going through the perpetrator's mind. But whenever someone kills multiple people with a firearm, fingers are immediately pointed at the gun lobby and Republican members of Congress literally before the bodies of victims are even cold (then the story inevitably disappears, especially when it's a trans person committing the atrocities). Yet when some dude detonates an explosion in front of a property owned by the left and media's (PTR) enemy #1 in a vehicle produced by the company owned by a top Trump surrogate in Elon Musk....well....by golly, let's not get too overzealous in jumping to conclusions here.
Regardless, I believe Erick is on to something.
It's not unlikely that this Livelsberger fella witnessed the fawning and adulation over a dude literally setting himself on fire while shouting "Free Palestine!" As such, there's a nonzero chance he fashioned himself a martyr.
While there have been confirmed terror elements which have come across the southern U.S. border during the Biden years, we now have a surge of a more frightening scenario: American citizens vulnerable to radicalization by elements who do not even have to be in the country. Between them and those who stand in solidarity with Hamas, that doesn't bode well for the West's survival.
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