Did federal investigators publicly confirm that the suspect in the January 1, 2025, New Orleans Bourbon Street attack "crossed into the U.S. from Mexico" two days before? No, that's not true: As of January 2, 2025, the FBI said that the suspect was a U.S. citizen who rented a car in Houston, Texas, on December 30, 2024. The post that recycled a clip from the Fox News broadcast did not take into account that the network later clarified that its sources referred to the movements of the vehicle, not the movements of the suspect in this case.
The claim appeared a post (archived here) published on X on January 1, 2025. It opened:
🚨 🚨 MAJOR BREAKING: Fox News reports that the man who committed the NYE New Orleans terror attack, crossed into the U.S. from Mexico via Eagle Pass TWO DAYS AGO.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Jan 2 18:59:44 2024 UTC)
The suspect
A Ford pickup truck drove into a crowd (archived here) on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, at around 3:15 am on January 1, 2025. The initial FBI press release suggested that the vehicle could have been rented. On the same day, federal investigators identified the suspect as "42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas" (archived here).
During the January 2, 2025, press conference, FBI Deputy Assistant Director of the agency's Counterterrorism Division Christopher Raia said (at the 07:05 mark):
At this point, investigators believe Jabbar picked up the rented F-150 [pickup truck] 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...
Investigators didn't say that the suspect had "crossed into the U.S. from Mexico via Eagle Pass" two days before the attack.
At the 27:45 mark, Raia said that the suspect acted alone:
We're confident at this point that there is [sic] no accomplices.
Claim's origin
The post on X reviewed in this fact check incorporated a fragment of the Fox News broadcast aired at 7:41 a.m. PST (10:41 a.m. EST) on January 1, 2025, as seen on the Internet Archive. At the 00:14 mark, the female voice-over said, referring to the suspect in this case:
...this person came through Eagle Pass, Texas, two days ago...
Later that day, Fox News, however, emphasized that they were talking about the supposed movements of the vehicle, not the suspect.
Fox News correspondent Aishah Hasnie wrote on X (archived here):
Clarifying - the TRUCK came across the border 2 days ago. We don't know if this suspect was inside this truck. Working to confirm ID of suspect.
At 10:02 a.m. PST (1:02 p.m. EST) on January 1, 2025, the network reported the following, as seen at the 00:31 mark in the fragment saved on the Internet Archive:
Fox News can confirm that the truck used in the attack crossed the border at Eagle Pass, Texas, back in November, but that driver does not appear to be the shooter.
At 10:06 a.m. (1:06 p.m. EST), a Fox News host said at the four-second mark:
...it is also important to remind our viewers that the person who was behind the wheel of this car, this truck, didn't necessarily be [sic] the one who actually brought this car from Texas over Eagle Pass.
Lead Stories reached out for additional comments from the FBI, Fox News and peer-to-peer car rental platform Turo (archived here). Turo said it was collaborating with authorities regarding the attack.
Lead Stories previously reported that the suspect in the New Orleans Bourbon Street Attack was not an immigrant.
Other Lead Stories fact checks about U.S. events can be found here.
