(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden is holding an emergency national security meeting Thursday afternoon to receive the most recent updates on the New Year’s truck attack in New Orleans.
The private meeting is set to begin at 12:15 EST in the Situation Room, a high-level security complex in the West Wing.
The FBI has identified Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, a U.S. citizen and U.S. Army veteran from Houston, as the driver that plowed into a Bourbon Street crowd early Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and injuring 35.
While the FBI initially said the agency doesn’t believe he acted alone, on Thursday it changed course, saying he likely did carry out the attack with no help.
Jabbar was killed at the scene following a gunfire exchange with law enforcement. The FBI said in a news release that he had improvised explosive devices that were found in both the truck and in two different locations in the French Quarter, body armor and an ISIS flag hanging from the tailgate.
Biden condemned the attack as a “horrific” act of violence and pledged to prevent further threats.
“I have directed my team to ensure every resource is available as federal, state, and local law enforcement work assiduously to get to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible and to ensure that there is no remaining threat of any kind,” Biden said in a statement.
