problem on the track. sam trans has bus bridges. taking a look at the bay. pardon me. richmond-san rafael bridge. we had a stall. mid-span. that's the reason for the backup. >> number seven, an exciting announcement about simone biles. the queen of gymnastics has been named sports illustrated's 2024 sports person of the year. biles told gma it is a huge honor and you can hear more from her coming up at 7 a.m. >> i love that when i went on a cruise earlier this year, the ship, she was the godmother of the ship. >> that's a that's a thing about the godmother. >> i have no idea. >> amazing. >> george: good morning america. the investigation into the deadly attack in new orleans. 15 people killed in the early hours of the new year. the suspect shot dead, but did he act alone? terror on new year's. a pickup truck drives into a crowd on bourbon street in new orleans. >> dozens of people got hit by a car. >> george: shooter fires an ar

style rifle out of the truck before crashing. 15 people killed, dozens injured. authorities find home made pipe bombs packed with nails in the truck along with an isis flag. this morning what we know about the shooter, a u.s. born citizen and army veteran from texas. plus what he posted as he made his way to new orleans. the search for possible accomplices happening now, with cities on high alert for vehicle thefts. what it could mean for today's college sugar bowl and the super bowl. >> gio: explosion at the trump hotel. a tesla cyber truck erupting into flames in las vegas killing one person. what elon musk is saying, plus the possible connection to the new orleans attack and the app both drivers used. >> rebecca: duelling lawsuits. new details revealed in "it ends with us" director and star justin baldoni's lawsuit. this morning blake lively's response. >> gio: wait until you hear olympic gold medallist simone biles big announcement. >> happy 50th anniversary good morning america.

>> gio: you'll hear it first, right here on "gma." >> announcer: live in times square, this is "good morning america." >> george: good morning america. we want to get right to our top story. at least 15 people killed, dozens injured when a man rammed a rented truck into a crowd on bourbon street just hours into the new year. suspect identified as 42-year-old texas native and army veteran. he died in an exchange of gun fire with police. the fbi said the suspect was inspired by isis, posting videos online just before the attack, saying he had, quote, a desire to kill. this morning authorities are raising alarm whether the attack was part of a larger international plot. some of the victims include an 18-year-old from mississippi about to start nursing school. a young mother teaching her son to read. a father of two deciding to go to bourbon street on a whim. and a former college football star home for the holidays. in just a few moments we are going to hear from an eyewitness who was with his wife on bourbon street. our team coverage begins with

whit johnson, who's on the scene in new orleans. good morning, whit. >> reporter: george, good morning to you. this is the intersection here on bourbon street where the suspect drove his truck onto the sidewalk and carried out his deadly rampage. it is a haunting sight. bourbon street usually a place of joy and celebration, but now it's an active crime scene. authorities are calling this an isis inspired act of terror. still so many questions about what motivated this attack and whether anyone else was involved. >> dozens of people got hit by this car. >> reporter: law enforcement reviewing this surveillance video, showing the driver slowly approaching bourbon and canal street 3:15 new year's day before he takes a sharp right turn, driving onto the sidewalk, plowing into pedestrians, killing 15, injuries scores of others. >> he revved the engine. then the huge loud impact. then people screaming. >> i have at least six casualties.

i have an officer doing chest compressions on one. >> reporter: authorities say the attacker wore body armor and fired an ar-style rifle out of the truck for three blocks before crashing into this construction vehicle. seconds later, more gunshots. officers returning fire, killing the suspect. witnesses seen rushing towards the victims to try and help as officers run past them with their rifles drawn. zion parsons saw the truck just before running for cover, only to learn his friend had been killed. >> i was moving people out of the way trying to find her saying, nah, nah, where is she? i turned my head and it's just her in the street. >> reporter: sources tell abc news the ford f150 truck contained multiple home made pipe bombs packed with nails. on the back of the truck bed a pole wrapped in a jacket with an isis flag. >> he was hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did. >> reporter: jimmy cochran was with his friends celebrating the new year.

>> what we saw was insanity. something out of a movie. the graphic nature of it and it was unbelievable. literally, no barricades were up on any of the streets all night long. >> reporter: authorities identifying the suspect as 42-year-old shamsud din jabbar, a u.s. born citizen, army veteran from texas. the vehicle he allegedly used as a weapon was rented in texas with a car sharing app, a company saying they are cooperating with law enforcement. authorities also investigating an air bnb rental tied to the suspect after reports of a small fire at the location. sources confirming bomb making materials were found in the residence. >> good evening. i am the property manager with blue metal properties, team lead at the midas group at corp realty. i just want to say hello. >> reporter: overnight abc news learning he had posted videos online in recent years promoting his real estate business. he was an employee for the consulting firm deloitte since 2021, the company saying they

are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence. now investigators exploring the possibility that others may have been involved. >> we do not believe jabbar was solely responsible. we are running down every lead, including those of his known associates. >> reporter: this morning bourbon street remains a crime scene, the most crowded area in a city that's set to host the sugar bowl tonight and the super bowl next month. now growing questions about security and why barricades were not properly set up. officials say after multiple malfunctions they were in the process of being replaced. patrol cars were instead meant to block traffic. a tragic failure, as the suspect was able to drive on the sidewalk. >> we had officers there. they still got around it. so we did indeed have a plan, but the terrorists defeated it. >> reporter: some city officials say they question construction's timeline earlier this week. >> this construction should happen much earlier and

everything really should have been ready and in place ready to go now. >> reporter: as investigators try to uncover the motive, we're learning more about the victims. >> there's bad people but there's so many more good people in the world. reggie was a good person. >> reporter: 37-year-old reggie hunter was a loving father of two young boys. his cousin tells me she had the agonizing task of identifying his body at the hospital on new year's day. >> i said a prayer before i got ready to go in like, god, give me strength to be able to do this. i held his hand. i told him that i loved him. i'm so sorry that this happened. we're gonna keep your memory alive. >> reporter: there are multiple locations authorities are looking at. one was this air bnb linked to suspect not far from here. there was a fire reported at that residence. that's rights went inside and found bomb making materials in that air bnb.

the big question that remains is whether this suspect put those materials together on his own or whether he had some help in this deadly attack. >> george: okay, whit. thank you very much. let's bring in jim marrow who was on bourbon street when this happened. thank you for joining us. i wanted to share this photo you posted with your wife right before this attack. just explain what you experienced when you knew something was going wrong. >> we had been enjoying the evening, great atmosphere. people were having a good time. first heard these bangs and tires squealing and looked and saw this truck start to accelerate at a high rate of speed. my wife and i were walking down the middle of the street and saw it. we were on bourbon, a block away from canal, where the attack happened. and so saw him, heard it. were able to essentially jump out of the way of the road way

so the truck did miss us by just a few seconds, a few feet. >> george: he was coming right towards you? >> we were in the middle of the street. the truck was coming right towards us. luckily, we did see it and hear it quickly enough to get ourselves out of the street. but unfortunately, right in front of us, several others did not. >> george: that must have been so horrific to watch in those moments. you were walking right down the middle of the street. what type of barricades were there? if any? >> yeah. the street was closed off. they had, you know, different parts. some small wooden barricades other places, as they said, police cars blocking off intersections. there weren't -- there didn't appear to be a lot of heavy metal barricades or anything like that. but, you know, it did seem pretty well clear. the roads were roads to keep who were trying to just drive by. but in this case, no hard

barricades or objects to stop the truck. >> george: we've seen these kinds of attacks before. did you know right away it was intentional? >> i could -- based on the way the truck was driving, i understood that it was intentional very quickly. i just heard recently about the other attacks similar car attacks. and so i was pretty clear and then heard the shooting begin shortly there after. and so it was pretty clear in my mind what had happened here from the very beginning. and so i was, you know, we were taking cover while the shooting was happening. but didn't want to just assume everything was all clear just because the shooting stopped. >> george: we are glad you and your wife are both okay. thank you for sharing your story with us this morning. we're going to turn to the heightened security situation

across the u.s. following the new orleans attack. our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas is tracking that. good morning, pierre. >> george, good morning. today the entire u.s. government, from the cia to nsa, conducting an urgent national and international investigation into an apparent isis inspired attack on the homeland. authorities want to know whether shamsud din jabbar had other associates helping him and to answer the key question. how did he become a cold blooded killer after serving in the u.s. military, including a stint in afghanistan from 2009 to 2010? the fbi requesting the public's help for any new information. agents swarming two key locations, one a short distance from the massacre, and another in houston where the suspected killer had reportedly been living. president biden said the suspect posted videos of what was described to abc news as a popular social media site aligning himself with isis and expressing the need to murder. the first signs of potential

ties to isis, the scene. the terror group's black flag found in the vehicle. abc news has learned he had been divorced multiple times. there was evidence of financial difficulties. in addition to referencing isis, authorities are also aware of videos that appear to have been made as he drove from texas to new orleans. suspect can be heard allegedly discussing divorce and desire to kill his family, george. >> george: investigators also focusing on the explosives and the weapons. >> exactly. they found an assault rifle and handgun and also ied's. one in the car and others throughout the court. the atf will do a trace on those handguns to figure out the origin. also, i'm told they will dissect each one of the ied's that they find to try to figure out where the parts were bought. >> george: we've been seeing more and more of these vehicle attacks. >> george, since 2006, there have been 16, at least 16 attacks where vehicles were the primary weapon. from charlottesville to a recent attack in germany we saw before christmas. we're told there was an attack in new zealand on new year's eve

where a vehicle was used to target police. they're trying to figure out if that might have somehow inspired this killer. >> george: authorities have been worried about an overall heightened terror environment for sometime. >> this is perhaps the most dangerous threat environment since 9/11. i recently spoke to a very senior government official who described his worry that the time between administrations, december to january, is among the most vulnerable times. the bad guys know it and they often want to attack. >> george: pierre thomas, thanks. gio? >> gio: all of it so concerning, george. and security is expected to be tight for the sugar bowl, which was postponed out of respect for the victims of the terror attack. morgan norwood is live at the super dome where the game will be played. good morning, morgan. >> reporter: good morning to you, gio. the notre dame/georgia matchup should have been the highlight of the new year's day celebrations, but it has been postponed to today, both out of respect for the lives lost just a file from here on bourbon

street, but also to ensure the safety of the more than 68,000 fans that will pack the super dome right behind me. governor landry saying the delay allowed investigators to process the active crime scene. we saw them doing that extensive grid sweep of the entire french quarter. ann kirkpatrick said fans can expect heightened security measures including bomb sniffing dogs and a full lockdown of this area until the game is over this evening. sugar bowl commissioner jeff dunn calling this delay a necessary move, saying public safety is paramount, and that ensures a safe and respectful environment for all. georgia taking the field as they rally behind one of their own. the school issuing a statement saying one of its students was critically injured in that attack and is now receiving medical treatment. fans attending this game urged to arrive early for enhanced security screening as new orleans balances grief with resilience and hosting this event with today's game a crucial test ahead of next month's super bowl, also taking place here. rebecca?

>> rebecca: all right. a difficult balancing act. morgan, thank you. we turn to the deadly explosion outside the 64 story trump hotel in las vegas. authorities treating this as a possible act of terrorism as well. mola lenghi is in las vegas with the latest, including new information about the possible suspect driving that car. good morning, mola. >> reporter: good morning, rebecca. yeah, authorities investigating any possible links between the incident here at the trump hotel in las vegas and that attack in new orleans. they say up to this point they've seen no evidence of a connection but they continue to investigate. overnight, atf agents at a home in colorado reportedly investigating the explosion outside trump international hotel in las vegas. >> this is going to be a cyber truck. >> we have a total of eight victims. >> reporter: cctv footage, now part of the investigation, showing the moment the 2024 cyber truck arrived outside the hotel's glass entrance doors around 8:40 a.m. within seconds, burst into

flames killing the driver and leaving 7 injured. the fire raging, smoke billows as crews rush to the scene. according to officials, the 2024 cyber truck was rented in colorado springs before it was driven to nevada, armed with fire work style mortars, gas canisters and fuel, reinforcing the preliminary belief that the blast was intentional. law enforcement is working to determine if he was behind the wheel during the time of the incident. now police treating the explosion as a possible act of terror, among other possibilities, saying they believe it was an isolated incident, but are taking no chances. >> we're absolutely investigating any connectivity to what happened in new orleans, as well as other attacks that have been occurring around the world. we're not ruling anything out yet. >> reporter: police also thanking elon musk for his quick response to the investigation. musk writing we have now confirmed the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed

of the rented cyber truck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself. law enforcement sources tell abc news that the driver of that cyber truck was rented from the toro app, the same used to rent the truck in the new orleans attack. toro tells abc news they are fully cooperating with this investigation, guys. >> george: mola, thank you very much. coming up we go back to new orleans for the latest on the terror attack investigation and what we know about some of the victims. >> rebecca: plus we have the new "it ends with us" details. we have the latest on blake lively and justin baldoni. >> the director and star is suing the new york times for libel first reporting of lively's complaint and now the actress is responding. i have new details coming up. >> gio: plus an exclusive announcement from olympic gold medallist simone biles. first let's go to ginger. >> ginger: did you hear all that wind? it's getting real windy. we're going to see gusts with wind alerts up to 55 miles an hour from parts of pennsylvania

up to maine. we're looking at times square still trying to clean up. probably going to see leftover confetti blown around today. some gusts will be up. if you go to the lakes, this is edinboro, pennsylvania, where they have up to 5 inches of lake effect snow. we turned that machine on. it's going to go through today and tonight. you could end up with an additional 6 to 12 if you're traveling i 90. especially western pennsylvania or new york. then pulaski kind of in the bulls eye on i 85. take care if you're traveling through the great lakes today. i know lot of folks are still on the road. then the cold. i'm sure you've heard about it, seen it on social media. yes, the first hit comes in. look at atlanta with a wind chill 23 saturday morning. chicago subzero wind chills by the weekend. minneapolis 13 below. and this is nothing compared to what happens with the next push of air that starts next wednesday through the end of the week. it is january. this is that time. but look how below average all the way down to tampa. if you want to get warm, you have to go west. your local weather now 30 seconds.

okay. three, two. i'm abc7 news meteorologist drew timme with your accuweather forecast. mild air today. today is the warmest day of the week. we'll get you into the 60s under partly cloudy skies overnight tonight. upper 40s. lower 50s. rain returns first thing tomorrow morning. it's a level one on the storm impact scale. accuweather seven day. we'll track those morning showers tomorrow. it's a fast moving front. sunshine is back over the weekend with a dry pattern prevailing for much of next week.

>> gio: coming up, we're going to switch gears. janai is here about the exciting announcement about simone biles. we're gonna hear from simone. we'll be right back. you're watching "good morning america" on this thursday morning. what you all did five months ago... mr. milchick: was one of the most painful moments in the history of this company. our message got out, he said we're famous. all of us equally or one of us is like the star? what did you see? my outie's wife was miss casey. ♪ if you want to find out what happened to her, i'll help. ms. cobel: she's still alive. you should've left. i want to see my wife. ♪

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four years ago, four years ago because the rent went up. long-time local chef alfred schilling sold his catering company to take over the business. he's a native of france who is turning the space into a parisian bistro. the restaurant plans to only have breakfast and lunch to start. let's see what traffic looks like. how's it going as people are maybe going back to work? i'm not sure. >> yeah, partially. it's pretty light out there, reggie. but we did have better news for bart riders. that equipment problem is now recovering. we had major delays. now we have 20 minute delays in the daly city millbrae direction. still with the s. it's been a pesky stall on the richmond-san rafael bridge. that's the reason for the backup. it's about a quarter of the way across the span into marin county, and you can see we're green elsewhere. >> thanks, sue. we're going to check

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looking lovely as that sun starts to get up here. current temperature 48 degrees right now in the city. it's in the 40s across the board, so it's on the cooler side right now. 46 in san rafael, 43 right now in fremont. get out and enjoy today. it's the warmest day of the week. partly cloudy skies, temperatures going into the 60s. later on today. tomorrow rain is back in the forecast. tomorrow morning. it's a level one light storm with less than a half of an inch of rain to finish the week. reggie, thanks, drew another abc seven news update in about a half hour and always on our news app and abc seven news.com and join us every weekday from 5 to 7 a.m. >> here's more gma. now >> or no matter what crosses your path. get coverage confidence with triple a insurance. >> so my ex used to be supportive. but honestly we were never a good match. i knew i was ready to move on because i was

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movie. at least 15 people killed, dozens more injured. police identified the attacker as a 42-year-old army veteran who was inspired by isis. want to go back to whit johnson in new orleans. good morning, whit. >> reporter: hey, george. good morning. you can see police are still processing the crime scene here on bourbon street. we've heard officers talking about the possibility that the streets could reopen later today. at least that's the hope, as the city is welcoming tens of thousands of people for the sugar bowl. there's been no official announcement from the city. as investigators are combing through the evidence, they're reviewing this footage showing the driver slowly approaching bourbon and canal street around 3:15 a.m. new year's day. he then takes a sharp turn driving into the sidewalk, plowing into pedestrians. at least 15 people killed, scores injured. authorities say the attacker wore body armor and fired an ar-style rifle out of the truck for three blocks before crashing into a construction vehicle. officers then engaged the suspect, returning fire, killing him.

two officers were injured in that process. sources tell abc news the ford f150 truck that he was driving contained multiple homemade pipe bombs packed with nails. on the back of the truck bed a pole wrapped in a gray jacket with an isis flag. authorities identifying the suspect as an army veteran from texas who once deployed to afghanistan. the vehicle he allegedly used as a weapon was rented in texas with a car sharing app. the company saying they are cooperating with law enforcement. george? >> george: authorities also investigating an air bnb rental tied to the suspect? >> reporter: george, that's right. there are multiple locations that law enforcement officials have been looking at. one of them, as you noted, is this air bnb residence not far from here. there was actually a fire reported at that residence. authorities investigated, went inside and found bomb making materials in that air bnb, george.

>> george: okay, whit. thank you very much. gio? >> gio: we're also learning more about the victims of the deadly new orleans terror attack. trevor ault is live at a hospital in new orleans, where some of the injured are being treated right now. good morning, trevor. >> reporter: good morning, gio. you know it's especially gut wrenching for this attack to happen on new year's day, when people are focused on the future, their plans, their goals. this morning we're learning heartbreaking details about the many people killed, what they have been planning for the new year and the remarkable ways they have spent the years before. this morning families, friends and loved ones left in shock after the horrific attack in the heart of the french quarter. >> parents got a phone call last night, this morning, early this morning, that no parent ever ever wants to receive. that people did not come home safe. >> reporter: kareen bidowi and hubert guthrow among those dead. >> this beautiful face who sang, i love you mom. he was just a wonderful son. >> reporter: kathy and louis lost their 25-year-old son matthew.

>> ask any of his friends. >> he really was. >> generous, loving. >> i'm still in shock, honestly. as i think as time goes by, you know, i'll see something that reminds me of him and i will break down. i know that's gonna happen. probably for the rest of my life. >> reporter: 18-year-old nakira dedeaux from gulfport, mississippi, was set to start nursing school this month. she died while out with friends. cole perez a 27-year-old single mother to a 4-year-old little boy was also killed while out for the new year. >> she was a great mother. she was allowed to bring her son into the office when he didn't have school. and so she was helping him learn to read. >> reporter: 28-year-old former princeton football player tiger beck was also killed. he was visiting louisiana for a long weekend of fishing with some college friends and went to bourbon street to celebrate. dozens more left injured including 51-year-old jeremy

senski, thrown from his wheelchair. the chair seen crushed next to the truck, narrowly avoiding gun fire as he laid on the ground. >> i was really confused. i was like, is that a motorcycle? >> reporter: annika and paul were staying in the hotel above the attack. >> that's a mechanical wheelchair. then i saw the body lying in the gutter right next to it. he was given care but he was also left to himself because he was alive and it was heart wrenching to watch this man, who couldn't help himself. >> reporter: he is now being treated at a local hospital. we have also learned one of the many people in critical condition currently in the hospital is a student at the university of georgia, one of so many students in town here for the sugar bowl, george. >> george: okay, trevor. thanks. our senior investigative correspondent aaron katersky is here. let's walk through what we know about the suspect. >> 42-year-old army veteran from texas shamsud din jabbar. he was working at deloitte, still employed at the time of

the attack. married and divorced three times. court records show he was struggling to pay child support to two different women. he posted videos on social media apparently during his drive from texas to louisiana that sources said mention mentioned a desire to kill his own family before deciding on the bourbon street attack in the name of isis. >> george: we have also seen previously videos of his real estate firm. he doesn't fit the normal profile you would expect. >> sure doesn't. little older than what we've seen in other kinds of attacks. he's believed to have been radicalized in recent years. sources say they're working to determine whether the israel hamas war may have deepened those beliefs. they've been scouring the internet to see if he was in communication with anyone, receiving encouragement for this kind of attack, and whether he may have taken cues from an attack just hours earlier in new zealand, where a driver struck police officers working a new year's eve patrol. he's not the first u.s. service member to radicalize. nadan hassan did and shot more

than a dozen people. >> george: so much concern about security. >> new orleans has called in officers and troops from all over louisiana to help secure the french quarter, the rest of the city, particularly the sugar bowl. across the country, law enforcement agencies are really concerned, george, about copy cat attacks and despite all the changes and upgrades in security, this threat with terror groups like isis calling on followers to attack in the west remains painfully real. >> george: aaron katersky, thank you very much. rebecca? >> rebecca: george, thank you. coming up next, thousands are expected to make the trip to atlanta to honor former president jimmy carter. we are there live when we return. stay with us. thought, am i going to have any hair left. after i gave birth, my hair wasn't even thinning. it was gone. when i spoke to my dermatologist, he immediately pointed me in the direction of nutrafol. it's 100% drug free and clinically tested. within 3 months, my hair was fuller. its' longer, it's so much thicker.

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>> rebecca: we are back remembering former president jimmy carter. faith abubey joins us with more details about the memorials and funerals planned. good morning, faith. >> reporter: good morning to you, rebecca. the former president's family out with a statement thanking the world for the outpouring of love and support saying that it is proof that jimmy carter's family tend extends beyond his blood relatives. the funeral rites will begin saturday where a motorcade will take him to his home town of plains, georgia. there will be stops at his boyhood farm. then make the trip to atlanta to the carter center for a public viewing.

then that body will be flown to washington, d.c., where the former president will lie in state at the u.s. capitol. his funeral will be thursday at the national cathedral. now, president joe biden is expected to eulogize his long time friend and president-elect trump has said he will attend that ceremony. carter and his late wife were inseparable. they were married for 77 years. they knew each other for most of their lives. they will be back again side by side when the former president's remains are returned here to georgia and he will be buried next to his wife there in plains, georgia. back to you, rebecca. >> rebecca: a love story for the ages. all right, faith. thank you. coming up later, what some influencers and creators are doing to protect their businesses from ai. coming up next, what we're learning from the new lawsuit filed from blake lively and justin baldoni. the legal battle is heating up. stay with us. ♪ did you take your vitamin today?

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>> gio: we are back with newest twist in the battle between blake lively and justin baldoni that's her co-star and director from "it ends with us." lively is now suing baldoni for sexual harassment as he takes aim at the "new york times." diane macedo has the latest. so many twists and turns here. >> blake lively and justin baldoni are kicking off the new year with new lawsuits. she and others are suing the new york times accusing the paper of only telling blake's side of the story while she is suing him and others doubling down on claims he sexually harassed her then launched a smear campaign against her to protect himself.

this morning new duelling lawsuits between actress blake lively and her "it ends with us" co-star and director justin baldoni. baldoni and others are suing the new york times for $250 million alleging libel, fraud and false invasion of privacy over this article titled we can bury anyone inside a hollywood smear machine. in the 87 page document, baldoni and others allege the article cherry picked and altered communication and dispute allegations made by lively in a california complaint laying out their version of events. baldoni's suit comes on the same day lively filed a federal lawsuit against baldoni, his film studio and pr team echoing allegations she made in the california complaint claiming baldoni sexually harassed her and that he and his pr team orchestrated a smear campaign against her in retaliation for her complaint. while lively's lawsuit alleges baldoni entered her trailer uninvited including while she was breast-feeding, baldoni said lively invited him in with a text message reading i'm just

pumping in my trailer if you want to work out our lines. lively's lawsuit also alleges baldoni improvised while shooting intimate scenes with no intimacy coordinator involved but baldoni alleges she refused to meet with the coordinator and that he was forced to meet with the intimacy coordinator alone and relay any suggestions to lively separately. baldoni's lawsuit claims lively used the false sexual harassment allegations to assert unilateral control over every aspect of the production. >> i thought we were friends. >> we are friends. >> reporter: the suit alleges the times relied almost entirely on lively's quote unverified and self-serving narrative while disregarding an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claim. the new york times plan to vigorously defend the suit, adding our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. >> the end of the day, while it appears to be a he said/she said scenario, in court, in front of a jury, they will have the opportunity to make their arguments and convince the jury what happened. who's telling the truth?

who's lying? and who should be held responsible for violating each other's reputation? >> reporter: lively's legal team says nothing in the suit changes nothing in lively's civil rights campaign and her federal complaint and we look forward to addressing each and every one of the allegations in court. now these cases will play out on both coasts. his in california, hers in new york. of course, they are already playing out in the court of public opinion. >> gio: they sure are. we are seeing that on social media. diane, thank you so much. coming up we're going to hear from simone biles. stick around on "gma." i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease.

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pacific northwest, you've been living in a la nina. that has continued and will as we start the new year. still balmy. looking nice. a foot over the weekend. now a couple inches. 2 to 7 inches around breckenridge, colorado. you can see some of the snow capped -- why didn't i go ski, right? that's next year. next year's trip we're going to do that. coming up, we've got more of where that came from. it will become mountain snow, especially the northern rockies. couple warnings out. it's going to be 2 to 5 inches of rain, which typical this type of year in southwestern oregon and will come with some wind as you go through montana and wyoming. keep that in mind. cascades could see another foot or two. then there's this storm that will traverse the nation. we've already seen in kansas, parts of topeka up to nebraska, city nebraska have alerts, storm watch that's in for this weekend. ice and snow. then eventually wraps up for early next week in the northeast.

coming up, rhianna revealing what she just said it feels like after going a year without alcohol. and the hosts of the new extreme makeover edition reboot, they're

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authorities find homemade pipe bombs packed with nails along with an isis flag. this morning what we know about the shooter, a u.s. born citizen and army veteran from texas. the search for possible accomplices happening now. >> rebecca: r eihanna's big reveal. >> y'all, i didn't drink all year. >> rebecca: sharing it with the caption new year new me. what she's saying about going alcohol free and why it's becoming more popular. start strong. we're kicking off 2025 with easy tips to organize your home and ways to up your cooking game. >> gio: wait until you hear simone bile's big announcement, as the goat says -- >> happy 50th anniversary, good morning america. >> george: thank you, simone. looking forward to that announcement. good morning to you all at home. as you know, we've been tracking the latest developments in new orleans. the city rocked by a terrorist

attack on new year's day. >> rebecca: 15 people were killed and dozens injured when a man drove his pickup truck on to the sidewalk of bourbon street crowded with people celebrating the new year, opening fire while he drove. viable bombs were also found. >> gio: the suspect was shot dead by police at the scene. he has been identified by the fbi as an american citizen and army veteran, born in texas. authorities believe he may not have acted alone. >> george: let's go back to whit johnson on the scene in new orleans. good morning, whit. >> reporter: george, good morning. as you can see, bourbon street behind me still shut down. it's an active crime scene, as police continue to gather evidence. authorities are calling this an isis inspired act of terror but there's still so many questions about what may have motivated this attack. >> dozens of people that got hit by this car. >> reporter: law enforcement reviewing this surveillance footage this morning showing the driver slowly approaching bourbon street and canal street around 3:15 a.m. new year's day before he takes a sharp right turn, driving onto the sidewalk, plowing into pedestrians,

killing 15, injuring scores of others. >> we heard revving an engine and then a huge loud impact then people screaming. >> reporter: authorities say the attacker wore body armor and fired an ar-style rifle out of the truck for three blocks before crashing into this construction vehicle. seconds later more gunshots. officers returning fire, killing the suspect. witnesses seen rushing towards the victims to try and help as officers run past them with their rifles drawn. sources tell abc news the ford f150 truck contained multiple homemade pipe bombs packed with nails. on the back of the truck bed, a pole wrapped in a gray jacket with an isis flag. >> he was hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did. >> reporter: authorities identifying the suspect as 42-year-old shamsud din jabbar, a u.s. born citizen and army veteran from texas. the vehicle he allegedly used as a weapon was rented in texas

with a car sharing app. the company saying they are cooperating with law enforcement. authorities also investigating an air bnb rental tied to the suspect after reports of a small fire at the location. sources confirming bomb making materials were found in the residence. >> good evening. i'm shamsud din jabbar. >> reporter: overnight, abc news learning he posted videos online in recent years promoting his real estate business. he was an employee for the consulting firm deloitte since 2021. the company saying they are outraged by this shameful act of violence. now investigators exploring the possibility that others may have been involved. bourbon street remains closed, set to host the sugar bowl tonight and the super bowl last month. we are learning more about the victims. >> there's bad people but there's so many more good people in the world. reggie was a good person. >> reporter: 37-year-old reggie hunter was a loving father of two young boys. his cousin tells me she had the

agonizing task of identifying his body at the hospital on new year's day. >> i held his hand. i told him that i loved him. i'm so sorry that this happened. we're gonna keep your memory alive. >> reporter: the city of new orleans is trying to do two very difficult things at once. they are investigating this attack and also welcoming tens of thousands of people here for the sugar bowl later today. despite questions around security on new year's eve and whether more should have been done to protect pedestrians, law enforcement officials insist the game today will be safe to attend. gio? >> gio: so heart breaking for those families. whit, thank you for your reporting. now the heighten security situation across the u.s. following that new orleans attack. let's bring back chief justice correspondent pierre thomas with more on this. good morning again, pierre. >> gio, good morning. today the entire u.s. government, from the cia to nsa conducting an urgent national and international investigation into an apparent isis inspired attack on the homeland. authorities want to know whether shamsud din jabbar had other

associates helping him and to answer the key question, how did he become a cold blooded killer after serving in the u.s. military, including a stint in afghanistan from 2009 to 2010? the fbi is requesting the public's help for any new information. agents swarming two locations. one in new orleans a short distance from the massacre, and another in houston, where the suspected killer reportedly had lived. guys, there's growing evidence that vehicle attacks low-tech but deadly efficient, are becoming a method of mass killers. there have been 16 vehicle attacks world wide since 2006, from charlottesville to a recent attack at a christmas market in germany. this is perhaps the most dangerous threat environment since 9/11. the senior official telling me recently the time between administrations, december to january, is critical, with bad guys often looking for opportunities to maim and kill, rebecca. >> rebecca: which is why security has to be on such high alert. pierre, thank you. as we've been saying, security is expected to be very tight tonight for the sugar bowl.

it was postponed out of respect for the victims of the terror attack, but now it's on and we're going back to morgan norwood live at the super dome where the game will be played. good morning, morgan. >> reporter: hey, good morning again to you, rebecca. the sugar bowl postponed to today out of respect but more for the safety of the 68,000 fans that will be watching today. the louisiana governor saying the delay allowed investigators to process that active crime scene. those attending the game are urged to arrive early for enhanced security screening. they expect a large security presence here outside of the super dome. guys? >> rebecca: thank you so much, morgan. >> george: coming up the exciting announcement from simone biles. you'll hear it first on gma. you'll all hear from simone. >> gio: hear rihanna saying she spent 2024 sober. the response and what's behind the growing movement amid younger people to stay away from

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>> george: welcome back to gma. our cover story including an exciting announcement from simone biles. >> it says a woman redefining excellence. i was going to say, you mean me? [ laughter ] come on, george. you got to set me up. good morning to you. it is hard to imagine simone biles breaking any more barriers or setting new heights, but she somehow manages to. now the seven time gold medallist who has five, five different events named after her now, the winningest gymnast, is also sports illustrated sports person of the year. this morning the queen of gymnastics has another crowning achievement. sports illustrated has named simone biles 2024 sports person of the year. >> honestly, it is such a huge honor. i know some of the greats who have won it in prior years. to just keep gymnastics on the map is exciting. >> reporter: this latest moral caps an amazing year for simone.

but the seven time gold medallist said she was still caught off guard. >> i know a lot of people love the sport of gymnastics and have followed my career closely. i was still very shocked. i feel like i'm always shocked winning any sort of award or being honored. >> reporter: at the paris olympics the 27-year-old exercised the ghost of the tokyo games where she pulled out due to mental health struggles. this past summer she won three golds including her second all around title. in paris, i spoke with her about opening up about her mental health journey. how do you feel that you being outspoken about it has helped not just other gymnasts but other athletes and other people? >> well, i think it's okay to not be okay. i think i showed a very vulnerable side that most people don't see because most of the time whenever i'm out there, they are seeing me win gold medals and all this stuff that's not relatable. whenever i break it down and am authentic to them, they feel

like they can relate. >> we feel like we can relate to her, somehow we feel like we can relate. hard to imagine how she'll top this. sports person of the year, person versus athlete because it's sports illustrated, as george said. >> george: thank you. thank you for redefining excellence every day. >> janai: thank you. [ laughter ] >> rebecca: we're going to shift gears to the rise of generative artificial intelligence. many are worried about the technology could affect their income. now one group of content creators is taking a stand to protect themselves and their businesses with the keep it real campaign. >> hey, guys. i'm una. >> reporter: yuna is a full time content creator and entrepreneur. >> add right to the middle. >> rebecca: overthe last decade she's gained an audience of 10

million through her brand feel good foodie with the goal of making healthy cooking easy. >> all of a sudden i thought, this is not just a hobby. >> rebecca: recently she has a new goal partnering with 145 other content creators on the keep it real campaign. launched by the digital media company raptive, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the potential threats of generative ai on the greater economy. >> it does feel like it is being used without our compensation or permission. >> i'm going to show you how to make our chili oil recipe. >> rebecca: caitlin and her family are behind the woks of life, a side hustle turned full time family business, dedicated to authentic chinese cooking. now, like una, she fears all her work could be upend. >> ai models have access to publicly available information and they are using this information that has been put together by regular people like us to compete directly with us. >> rebecca: she and other

raptive clients are requesting big tech companies create people like partners. and that advertisers prioritize doing business with human rekwraeuted websites. >> it's not an ideal authorship and credibility. ai has changed that. now creators are having to figure out how to respond to a rapidly changing environment where their intellectual property may or may not be seen as theirs. >> reporter: some argue generative ai tools help level the playing field. >> companies are marketing them to creators as a way to make some of those disparities between the bigger creators with more money and the smaller creators who might not always get known for their labor, to lessen the gap. creators don't necessarily see it that way. >> rebecca: we really appreciate all the creators who shared their stories with us. of course, ai is just the beginning here. we see how it is impacting people in so many different ways. all right. gio, over to you.

>> gio: fascinating story, rebecca. thank you. the new year is here. for many, it means health resolutions. you know that. this morning we are taking a look at "people" magazine's beyond the scale feature with stories of people who have transformed their health and their lives. joining us is editor in chief of "people." good morning. >> good morning. >> gio: happy new year. >> happy new year to you. >> gio: so many people you're focusing on all have one thing in common, these medications glp-1's. why did you want to focus on that? >> any conversation about weight loss is going to include these weight loss drugs. we've heard about ozempic, monjouro. they are part of many diet programs as well. almost any conversation with your doctor if you're looking to lose a lot of weight. >> gio: looking ats these glp-1's, they are game changers. right? and so people are looking at them to lose weight but there's so many applications. >> we've seen unexpected effects of this. people reporting it might help with addiction or sleep apnea. the biggest thing we see is with people who are overweight or diabetic.

they really say that it eliminates the food noise they have in their head. >> gio: the food noise? >> yes. it's that voice that says, i need that cookie. i need that burger. it's a constant food noise. this is an abc news special report. >> i'm whit johnson, live from new orleans, and we're coming on the air with this breaking news. officials are about to give a press briefing on that deadly terror attack that happened here in new orleans, on bourbon street in the early morning hours of new year's day. you can see officials are walking up to the podium here. we know that the governor is going to speak. the fbi and other public officials, the new orleans mayor is going to speak. the coroner has confirmed that at least 15 people were killed in this attack, dozens injured when the suspect was able to drive around a police barricade a patrol car and go up onto the sidewalk, and

then carried out this deadly killing spree for several blocks and opened fire with an ar style rifle. authorities say that the driver was a us born army veteran, possibly radicalized or inspired by isis. now, sources are now telling abc news that the fbi and new orleans police no longer believe that other suspects were involved. now, there was some question early on in the investigation when some surveillance video that they were reviewing indicated that maybe somebody else planted some pipe bombs. well, now authorities are saying multiple sources are telling abc news that they reviewed that video and they believe that it was the suspect himself who placed those pipe bombs in different parts around bourbon street and then went and changed clothing and then came back and carried out that attack. so this is a fluid situation. we're getting more information. once again, we're awaiting authorities to step up to the podium here and deliver this briefing. in the meantime, i can kind of paint the picture for you in this scene here on bourbon street. this is the intersection right behind me

where that attack initiated. the ford f-150 truck came from the right lane, made a turn onto the sidewalk right here. and that's where this whole scene played out. and there have been a lot of questions about safety and security in this area. i mean, this was new year's eve. thousands of people were enjoying the new year's celebrations, but they had these bollards, these barricades that were having technical issues in the past. and so they weren't working for this party for these festivities. and so instead, authorities say that they were going to replace them to get them ready to go for the super bowl. when it comes here to new orleans next month. well, that didn't happen. so instead, police put patrol cars at some of these key intersections. but obviously that was not good enough because the suspect in his truck was still able to work his way around the police barricade. let's go ahead and bring in our chief justice correspondent, pierre thomas. pierre, as i noted earlier, you were talking to your sources, who just recently, not long ago

confirmed that no other suspects are involved. they believe at this time. pierre. can you just clarify what sources are saying about that in this investigation? >> to be specific, what we're hearing is that in terms of the scene there, in terms of whether other people were helping the suspect on the morning of this attack, there was no firm evidence so far that other people were helping conduct the attack in the moment. we're still awaiting details about in terms of whether other people may have been consulting with him. was he being radicalized by someone overseas or otherwise? but as of late last night, when i was checking with sources and again this morning, they had no firm evidence tying other people to this suspect involved in this catastrophic attack that occurred on new year's eve. >> all right, pierre, thank you. and stand by once again. we're awaiting this press conference here. governor landry, who actually toured areas around bourbon street, is expected to speak along with the fbi and other law enforcement officials.

as we wait for that, let's bring in our senior investigative correspondent, aaron katersky, who's been following this as well. and, aaron, you know, it's one thing for them to say that they don't think that any other suspects were potentially involved in planting some of these devices or the planning, but they do believe that this suspect was either radicalized or inspired by isis. >> and they believe that because he made videos as he was driving from texas to louisiana, wit. and on those videos, even though it's dark and you can't see him, the authorities say they do hear him talk about pledging his allegiance to isis and about killing his own family, maybe before deciding ultimately to attack bourbon street with good. >> all right. aaron. stand by. we're going to check back with you in just a bit. >> governor landry stepping up to the podium. >> let's listen. >> finding the citizens of louisiana that as you travel around the state, you will see the flags of all state buildings at half mast in honor of those lives that were lost in this horrific act of violence. i also

think that it's important to remember that what happened yesterday was akin to those who are old enough to remember jigsaw puzzles, and that you would take a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle and you empty the box and you've got to start sifting through those pieces, and you want to start. if you're real good, you start at the corners, right? try to put your corners together. and from. yesterday to today, over thousand law enforcement agents and officers, men and women, have been poring over countless amounts of data of videos of surveillances interviews, tracking down every possible

lead that came to us, whether it was the new orleans police department, the louisiana state police, the fbi, or other federal agencies. also yesterday, we declared we i issued an emergency declaration. that declaration was meant to streamline resources and communications between state, local and federal partners. and we're seeing a city in the state is twofold. we've got an active criminalld. investigation going on, while we're also continuing to secure the city in preparation for 3:00 kickoff time for the sugar bowl. with that, i

would also remind those who are in the city that as far as state resources are concerned, we have the louisiana state police, the louisiana national guard, which was part of that emergency declaration, which allowed us to put an entire mp company on the ground. those become force multipliers, is what we call that in law enforcement and the military. that helps to add to the resources that we have. wildlife and fisheries. the department of corrections, dsf, the h. s our veterans affairs, our probation and parole, all state agencies and the state agency who has a post certified officers are here in this city to help secure the city uh. and so with that, i would like to turn it over to christopher ray, who is the deputy assistant director of the fbi's counter terrorism terrorism

division. chris. >> thank you, governor landry. good fbi deputy assistant director christopher wray. i'm from our counterterrorism division at headquarters. i'm also joined by special assistant special agent in charge alethea duncan from our new orleans office, who you heard from yesterday. i'm here to discuss not only the latest investigative information we have here in new orleans, but to also let you know about other investigative activities outside of the state. i first and most importantly, want to send our deepest condolences to the victims of this horrific attack and their loved ones. 14 innocent victims were killed in this senseless attack, and at least 35 are injured. we cannot ease the grief. people in this community and across the nation are feeling at this time. but

rest assured, we stand with you and in support of you all the resources. and i'm going to go into that a little bit a little bit later. all the resources of the fbi are being focused on tracking down every piece of evidence, every lead, every interview, every potential uh, every every potential lead we've gotten. while i won't be able to answer all your questions today, my goal is to be as forthcoming as possible with you on what we've uncovered so far. first and foremost, let me be very clear about this point. this was an act of terrorism. it was premeditated and an evil act. this was obviously a critical incident. and with that, lots of information and tips come pouring in from law enforcement, first responders and the public. we have been aggressively running down these tips and information. as you all know, that takes time, and

we will continue to do so until every lead has been followed through on. this investigation is only a little more than 24 hours years old, so 24 hours old. so i ask you to keep in mind that as i go through some of the specifics later, but at this point, currently and this is another position, another fact i want to be clear on, we do not assess at this point that anyone else involved in this attack is involved in this attack, except for shamsuddin jabbar, the subject you've already been briefed on. a little bit about what the fbi is doing. so we are searching people and assets to the area from across the region and across the nation. special agents in multiple field offices across the country have been deployed and are assisting with potential aspects of this investigation and following up on every lead. additional teams of special agents, professional staff

and victim specialists continue to arrive to provide more investigative power and assistance to the victims and their families. we have also forward deployed a number of our critical incident response group assets, including members of our hostage rescue team, special agent bomb technicians and crisis management coordination coordinators. in addition, we have deployed more evidence response technicians to continue to process the various scenes that we have so far, far, we received received just over 400 tips from the public, and that information is being followed up on both, on on both here in new orleans and across the country. some of the tips are here in new orleans. and there are other tips in other states across the country that we are following up on. the fbi team and our law enforcement partners here are also reviewing hundreds of hours of surveillance and other video

from both the french quarter and other locations. as for a timeline, at this point, investigators believe jabar picked up the rented f-150 in houston, texas on december 30th. he then drove from houston to new orleans on the evening of the 31st, and he posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for isis. there were five videos posted on jabar's facebook account, which are timestamped beginning at 1:29 a.m. and the last at 3:02 a.m. in the first video, jabar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the, quote, war between the believers and the disbelievers, end quote. additionally, he stated he had joined isis before this summer. he also provided a will and

testament. fbi have a couple of different scenes at the location. as you as you. we have released the scene at bourbon street. that scene has been released. we also have a scene off a man, off a off of mandeville address, where we're currently searching that that scene right now. fbi and atf agents have secured that house, and that location is being searched for potential evidence. on new year's morning, jabar opened fire after ramming through a blocked off area of bourbon street, used his truck as a weapon to run over the victims. teams of specially trained victims specialists. again, as i said, are on the ground here in new orleans assisting survivors of the attack and loved ones of the deceased. we do not believe the

public is in any danger around any of these locations. three phones linked to jabar have been recovered, and digital media exploitation is a priority. to see what is on the devices and determine if there are any other potential leads. additionally, we have recovered two laptops and are currently reviewing them for any potential leads. those laptops were recovered at the mandeville address. evidence technicians will also be going over the f-150 truck jabar was driving. as you know, we recovered an isis flag from the back of the vehicle. jabar declared his support for the terrorist group on social media. as i stated before, as he made his way to new orleans. fbi bomb technicians also recovered two ieds in coolers, one from the cross section of bourbon and

orleans street, and the second at an intersection approximately two blocks away. there were multiple reports of other devices. those reports turned out to be misinformation or not. not not actual functioning devices. those are the only two devices that we've been able to recover that were functional. both devices were rendered safe. on scene, we did obtain surveillance footage showing jabar placing the devices where they were found. two other of two other, as i said before, two other items of interest were determined not to be ieds. a little bit about jabar. jabar himself was born in the united states and is a us military veteran. we are looking in everything in his life. while we have interviewed many people who know jabar, we still need to talk to others. whether, you know jabar personally worked with him, served in the military

or saw him in new orleans or texas. we need to talk to you. you may not think you have relevant information, but what you know could tie in to one of our investigative leads. specifically, we want to talk to anyone who was in the french quarter on new year's eve or early on new year's day. that includes people spotted near one of the two ieds on bourbon street, the i that includes the ied was inside a cooler, and many people stopped and looked at the cooler and then continued on their way. let's be clear again. we do not believe at this point these people are involved in this incident in any way. we want to speak to them as witnesses and want to know what they saw and when. i went down to the crime scene last night, it is very hard to put into words what it looked like and

how difficult it was to see. anyone with information can call us at one 800, call fbi or send digital tips to fbi.gov. backslash. bourbon street attack early this morning. evidence response teams finished their work at the crime scene. bourbon street has been turned over to the city of new orleans. as you know, there's also an fbi investigation in las vegas. we are following up on all potential leads and not ruling anything out. however, at this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in new orleans and the one in las vegas. and again, i'll preface as i close, i'll preface everything with what i started with in the beginning, which was this is very early in an investigation like this. again, our thoughts and prayers. our thoughts and our prayers are with the victims of this tragedy and everyone impacted across the

country. they remain at the heart of our investigation. i also, although i've only been on the ground here a short time, i also want to express the sincere appreciation for our partners here, which include the u.s. attorney's office, hpsci, atf, the new orleans pd, the louisiana state police, the governor's office, and countless others. at this point, i'm going to turn it over to the special agent in charge of atf here, josh jackson. >> hey. good afternoon. as stated, my name is joshua jackson. i am the special agent in charge for the atf new orleans field division and atf. primary mission is preventing, reducing and solving violent crime throughout the united states and abroad. solving part is the focus of this investigation. atf resources that have been brought to bear to the city and to focus with

our federal, state and local partners have been our national response team. we spoke about the scene that's still being processed. now. the national response team of atf is a team of certified fire investigators, certified explosives explosives specialists, fire engineers, electrical engineers. these folks will give us additional investigative leads to help the investigative team identify what happened at the location in mandeville and identify how that fire started, and move the investigation forward from there. additional resources that atf has brought to bear into the city as our atf special response team, this is a tactical team capable of handling, handling any sort of enforcement operation. this team is deployed on set and ready for the sugar bowl today. this team has also made available to the louisiana state police and also new orleans police department to assist with any efforts that they may have during this period. additional resources. as the governor alluded to, he executed executive powers and

had an emergency declared to where we were able. atf wasble to tap in to assist emergency support function 13 resources. this allowed us to bring additional explosive detection canines so that we can safely sweep the city and safely sweep the super bowl in preparation for the game today. these resources will still be in the city as we lead up through, into, up to the super bowl and through mardi gras. these type of atf resources will be here. the last resources the atf has brought to bear, and probably the most important one is our victim witness coordinator. these folks come in and they provide resources to the victims and the family members that have suffered greatly during this tragedy. the entire city hurts, but the victims and the family members are in need of resources and care. long after this investigation wraps up. this time next year to be hard for the families and friends who suffered during this event. so our victim witness coordinators

are working with the fbi, the city of new orleans court coordinators to provide resources to these folks out here. and as we move forward, atf will be committed. we will work with the investigative team moving this investigation forward. but also we'll be here to make sure the city is safe and prepared as we move into the super bowl. and with that, i'm going to turn it over to our mayor of this great city of new orleans. madam mayor, thank you so much. >> thank you so much. well, good morning once again. and i just want to just echo my thank you's to the unified command of our law enforcement partners. and at every single level, federal, state and governor. governor, thank you for your partnership. yeah. thank you. i also want to thank the residents and the visitors of the city of new orleans for your patience, for your support, and most of all,

your prayers. our hearts and prayers continue to go out to the victims families and. city of new orleans. we're resilient. and as i stated on yesterday, my focus in terms of a priority has been on our victims. as you've heard that, yes, the fbi was able to clear bourbon street. and what that meant also for me in this city was that we were able to remove our victims, identify them and notify their families real reverence. they mattered. the families matter and matter to the city of new orleans. in addition to that, i want to just thank again our federal partners

in washington, listening to my plea personally for the additional resources to allow for the scene to be cleared and, again, attending to our victims. i walk by each one, and i did the sign across in my own way, because reverence, again, is important. so while we have been able to have bourbon street return back to the city of new orleans, and the due diligence has been done, that then allowed me to give the go ahead to begin the cleaning of bourbon street. that started happening in the morning about 2 a.m. it was completed before 8 a.m. this morning, but that has really set the tone, i would say, and with the confidence that i have in the law enforcement partners, all of the resources that have been activated, how we have made sure that safety continues to be

our top priority, how our assets have been deployed strategically again for the safety and the protection of our visitors and our residents in the city. and because of that, the confidence is there to reopen bourbon street to the public. prior to game time. today, the first order will be to allow for vendors to come in and service the businesses. that's important in order for us to stand up activation, as you know, governor. and so with that, i want to reassure the public that the city of new orleans is not only ready for game day today, but we're ready to continue to host large scale events in our city because we are built to host at every single turn. i want to again thank all of those

who responded to the fbi's call for information and tips. as you heard, that has been useful. continue to do that. the investigation is still active and absolutely under the fbi's leadership, we will continue to operate and cooperate as we always have. so i want to also thank all of our partners for the added resources for victim and crisis management. we know that that's again, important working with our partner, the greater new orleans foundation, we have set up a fund for our victims families for not only today but into the future. as you heard, this is going to be a long process for our people. so with that, the city of new orleans and with all of my confidence, we are ready. and we could not get here again without the unified presence, support

and cooperation. we are stronger together. and i want to say again, thank you so much. thank you governor. all right. so once again, the governor would like me to reiterate that bourbon street will be prepared for full activation before game time today. we know 3 p.m. so we're working towards 2:30 p.m. but prior to game time, the kickoff bourbon street will be restored. so we're hard at work now. our teams are now and of course working with our business community to serve our public and serve our residents and our visitors alike. thank. >> in closing, i want to. rest. people assure that right now in the city of new orleans, there is an. unprecedented amount of

law enforcement resources that are being utilized to close out and to hunt down and to finalize this investigation. i want to thank the fbi and all of our federal partners for the amount of resources they have poured into the city. this type of event can happen in any city, and that's the tragedy of it. and i think it's important for people to understand that to protect our citizens in america from evil, you have to crush it. you can't go out there and placate it. you can't go out there and say, oh, i'm going to put this in place and that in place and hope that evil doesn't show up on your doorstep because it will. you have to crush it. and that's what we're going to do here. we're going to put it all behind us. we're going to continue to keep the victims. those that are in the hospital, either fighting for their lives or trying to recover in our

thoughts and in our prayers. but, you know, this morning and i don't want to single out just one news source, but i just happened to turn on fox and friends, and there was a young man who was interviewed who was actually on bourbon street during this horrific. act of terrorism, and they closed out by asking him what now? and i think he summed it up. he said, look, we can't live in fear because fear will paralyze us. he said. we come down to this city to enjoy ourselves and to entertain ourselves and to be with our friends and with our families, because that's who we are. louisiana invented hospitality. the people of this city care for each other. and believe you me, we care about each one of the lives that were lost in this city and that we will never forget them. but it

would be a tragedy if we let their losses be snuffed out because of fear. this city will be back. we will be open to family and friends and loved ones who want some time to relax from the pressures of life. and so today we're going to have us a sugar bowl. we're going to enjoy ourselves. we're going to keep those again who have lost loved ones in in mind. and we're going to get on to the business of this city and this great country. with that, i'll take any questions. >> governor, this is for you and the assistant director. the message is really changed since yesterday. yesterday, the fbi said that people should be vigilant, that he did not act alone, that he likely had help. and now you're coming out the very next day and saying he was a lone wolf. everything is safe.

the game moves on. everybody have a good time. how can you be so sure just 12 hours later? >> well, we're going to bring him up all right. but here's what i want. i want to remind everyone, like i worked at i was a deputy sheriff, right? i worked in a jail. i worked on the street. i worked on the interstate, i served warrants, i can tell you. look, in today's world, i get it. information. we get information like that. everybody lives in a 15 second tiktok video. we think that life operates like it does on our phones, and it just doesn't. information changes. in fact, that's why we ask the media for patience. we get information, like i said, putting that no one dumps a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and puts it together in five seconds. okay. and what i would tell you is that i would rather i appreciate the fact that what we did was we're underpromising

and overdelivering today, and i think that's important. and i want to i want to remind some look, because over the last decade, law enforcement has taken it on the chin unfairly. and there are great men and women serving in the fbi and atf and louisiana state police and new orleans pd. our sheriffs have been unbelievable in this. and i tell you, they want to protect you all and we have to trust them. and sometimes the information we put out, we end up finding out that it may be incorrect. but guess what we're doing. what we're doing here is something that i think is important. it's called transparency. and look, something may change. again. here's what i do know though. right now this is one of the safest places on earth. it doesn't mean that nothing can't happen. >> thank you governor. and to echo exactly, i think the governor put it put it eloquently, as could be said in

a lot of these instances, i also had the opportunity to deploy the boss bomb. and i will tell you, this is almost carbon copy to boss bomb as as far as the inaccurate reporting that comes up and what the governor said is we want to be transparent with the public years of the fbi not being transparent. we're being as transparent as we possibly can. and unfortunately, as we're being transparent, unfortunately for that, there is some information that we have to go back and correct. and in this particular incident, you heard the resources that we brought that the other state and locals have brought. we've had 24 hours now to go through media, to go through phones, to interview people, to analyze those videos, analyze other, other databases. and after all of that, there's been hundreds and hundreds of leads done just in 24 hours. we're confident at this point that there is no accomplices. and i'll give you an idea of how that information sometimes a lot of the early reports came out that there were people that extra people that were setting

the coolers down. right. it turns out those were just patrons on the street that were looking, looking inside the coolers. right. we didn't know that at first. we had to kind of track all that down and put that to rest. so that's just an example, one of the pieces of information. but there were other pieces of information that after we got our feet under us a little bit and on the ground here, we were able to put together a much more accurate picture of the subject and his attention. >> whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. >> updated death toll. we just wanted to double check. yes. 14, not 15 or 14. >> and then the shooter himself would be 15 total to include the shooter. >> the terrorist, the ied. >> the ied is where the ieds, pipe bombs. and have you discovered a remote detonator? anywhere? and when you said that he used to have surveillance footage of the suspect planting those ieds, what time, roughly, were they planted? >> yeah, those roughly a couple hours. i don't have the exact times in front of me. a couple hours prior to the attack to attack, probably after midnight after, i want to say 1 or 2 in

the morning, but i can't. >> the area came back correct that. >> that's our assumption now. i mean, we still have a lot to work through. we're getting more surveillance video and everything else, but that's that's the assumption. >> was he wearing a suicide vest? >> is being done on bourbon street. were there would there have been k-9s out on new year's eve? would there have been bombed? sweeps done? look, i think our precautions let me just say this. >> and either joe or bob or correct me. look, a bomb a bomb dog doesn't operate like a drug dog, right? they on bourbon street. there's a lot of sense, right? a lot of smells. i don't think you can run a bomb dog down bourbon street with thousands of people there, and be able to sniff out a bomb. what we've been doing, what they have been doing is certainly a complete sweep of the quarter. because of the limited amount of traffic that's been out there. let me just say this. i think this may help. it would be my hope that as some additional

time goes through, maybe closer to maybe the beginning of next week, we will if we've got it. to what extent? buttoned up as we could. i would work with the fbi and the city, and maybe we can come up with a timeline to be able to get you those information, kind of walk everyone through from day one through. i think it is. it's extremely premature. and you're really putting us on some speculative grounds to ask some of those questions because, again, it's only been 24 hours. i mean, can you imagine how far we've come in 24 hours? >> so there was five bombs and was he wearing. >> whoa whoa whoa whoa. we'll go one at a time. >> to make bourbon streets safer tonight than it was new year's eve. or temporary bollards being brought in to block off the street. and why weren't those used on new year's eve? >> well, well, look, here's what i'm going to say. every time

some bad guy does something like this, there's what we call an after action review. because again. nothing is 100%. reinforced the area. we have deployed some additional types of assets. i personally it's up to the city or other. i don't like to give specifics because i don't like to tell the enemy what we got. but i can tell you we're in better and it brought him down. can you speak to the mandeville scene? and then we'll go to you. neighbors at that site told us they smelled smoke early in the morning. was there a fire there? any kind of burning happening? yeah, the fire happened after the suspect was pulled. >> that's correct. yeah. i'll move to 8-80. i do want to address the suicide vest

question. i want to kill that one right. right away. there was no evidence that the subject was wearing a suicide vest. a suicide vest at all. so i will turn the mandeville stuff over to atf. >> as to. the fire at the mandeville scene. so our working theory now is that the fire started after jabar was already deceased. there's a lot of different ways that can happen. you could have different time devices. you could have a long cord that extended that time. you could also have pressure cookers that were put on top of the stove filled with gasoline, and then it went off. there's a lot of different ways to do it, but that is why our atf national response team is here to answer those questions and get that investigative lead back, back to our team. so more to come on that. we're still processing that scene. we're out there right now. >> how he became radicalized over all of this time. what brought him to bourbon street? do we understand? was there any international travel involved? what led him down this path to radicalization? >> yeah, sure. a lot, a lot of a lot of questions we're still asking ourselves. we

know that he specifically picked out bourbon street. not quite sure why. i mean, i think one can assume that it was lots of people new year's eve, you know, with a, you know, a target for an attack. that's the stuff in the coming days as far as that path to radicalization that we're really going to be digging into and making a priority, making a priority, making a priority of. so what i can tell you right now is that he was 100% inspired by isis. and so we're digging we're digging through more of the social media, more interviews, working with some of our other partners to ascertain just how to, to ascertain a little bit more about that connection. >> we're going to we're going to do one more. kate. kate, put your hand up for a while. okay. thank you. i appreciate it. yeah. it's actually for special agent red. sir, i prefer those. i'm not sure. in order to reassure people, would you be able to explain the analysis and evidence that has led to this most recent understanding that

he was a lone actor and that there is, at this point, at least from your understanding, no further danger to the public? >> sure. sure. i think a lot of that multiple interviews, the hundreds, hundreds of interviews that we've conducted so far, the social media, the social media review that we've done of his accounts, the what we by my count now, the five devices, we have, the three cell phones and the two laptops, uh- been able to initially triage or go through that, and there is just nothing to indicate through call records, through anything on those devices, through interviews, through anything in our systems that he was aided, aided, aided in this attack by anybody. and again, i have to caveat like the governor said, it's his 24 hours into it and that could change. but right now we've got a much better picture and much more confidence on what we were dealing with than we were just 24 hours ago. >> all right. look, thank you all. >> thank you all so very much.

again, again, again. we are going to try to get you as much information as possible. so uh- any any additional information will be put out through press releases. thank you so very much. >> mayor. >> and you were just listening to a press briefing here in new orleans. governor landrieu there, the fbi, the atf, the mayor and others talking about the situation here in the deadly terror attack here on bourbon street. a few things to clarify. they wanted to highlight that this was, in fact, an act of terror. the suspect inspired by isis. but they wanted to make clear that they do not suspect that anyone else was involved, and they do not believe that the public is in any danger at the moment. they also said at this time, there is no definitive link between the attack here in new orleans and that separate explosion that happened with the cybertruck outside of a trump hotel in las vegas. so, again, trying to clarify some of the things that have been reported over the last 24 hours. another key development as far as new

orleans is concerned, is that they are hoping to reopen bourbon street later today before kickoff for the sugar bowl. and that is the intersection behind me here where the suspect actually went around. the patrol car, drove up on the sidewalk and carried out that killing spree. and already as we've been here during the briefing, we've been watching them clear that out and bring in new barricades, presumably for later today, to protect the public. let's go ahead and get back to our team here and go to our chief justice correspondent, pierre thomas. pierre, the fbi talking about transparency and essentially explaining explainie story has developed and changed over the last 24 hours. and another interesting piece is the ieds that were found in coolers here on bourbon street. >> absolutely. i mean, the basic thing that we learned today, after 1000 agents and officers have gone through all the details in terms of surveillance cameras, talking to witnesses, they've had some success in looking at three devices, three phones and two