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In the hours after the New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street, people on social media falsely claimed the suspect was in the U.S. illegally.
Fourteen people are dead and dozens more are injured after a pickup driver rammed into a crowd during New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
The deadly attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism inspired by the Islamic State group, or ISIS.
In the wake of the suspected terror attack, some prominent public officials, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and other people online claimed the attacker, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was in the U.S. illegally. These types of claims also prompted some people to blame ineffective border security for the attack, with one person writing in a viral X post that President Joe Biden “caused it with his wide open border.”
The claims about Jabbar’s citizenship status are false. The FBI said Jabbar, who was killed by police, was a U.S. citizen from Texas. Jabbar was also an Army veteran.
But the confusion about Jabbar’s citizenship status continues, prompting a viewer to text us on Thursday morning asking if the suspect was an immigrant in the U.S. illegally.
Here’s what we can VERIFY about the origins of the misinformation.
THE SOURCES
WHAT WE FOUND
It’s common for misinformation to spread online in the wake of significant news events like the New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans.
For example, after 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was recently arrested and charged with murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a fake manifesto attributed to Mangione and a fake mugshot that was likely created using artificial intelligence went viral on social media.
The misinformation about the New Orleans attacker’s citizenship status likely stems from initial news reports that appear to indicate the attacker may have been in the country illegally.
The posts about the suspected attacker’s citizenship status from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and other people online cited reporting from Fox News about the suspect’s truck crossing the U.S. border in Eagle Pass, Texas, two days prior to the attack.
On Wednesday morning, Fox News national correspondent Aishah Hasnie wrote in a post on X, “Federal law enforcement sources tell FOX, the NOLA suspect came through Eagle Pass, Texas two days ago. The suspect’s citizenship status is not yet confirmed. Per @davidspunt @GriffJenkins.”
Fox News correspondent David Spunt spoke about the development on air around the same time, but clarified that it’s unclear whether the suspect was the person driving the vehicle.
Hasnie also edited her post to remove her reference to the “NOLA suspect” and clarified in a follow-up post that “we don’t know if this suspect was inside this truck.”
Shortly after the Fox News report, President-elect Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., tied the New Orleans attack to border security issues in social media posts.
President-Elect Trump said in a Truth Social post that criminals coming into the U.S. are more dangerous than people already in the country.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump wrote.
“Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!” he continued.
In a post on X, Donald Trump Jr. wrote, “Biden’s parting gift to America – migrant terrorists.”
But the FBI later confirmed on Wednesday that Jabbar was a U.S. citizen from Texas. Fox News also retracted its initial story about the truck crossing the border two days before the attack.
“Sources now tell Fox that that truck from Eagle Pass, Texas, did not cross two days ago. It crossed on November 16 and the identification of the driver that crossed the border does not appear to be the shooter,” Fox News national correspondent Bryan Llenas told viewers at 11:55 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
The network also added the following editor’s note to a story with live updates about the New Orleans attack: “Fox News has learned that the truck used in the attack had a Texas license plate, and that it was tracked crossing the southern border into the U.S. at Eagle Pass, Texas, on November 16. Sources tell FOX there was some initial confusion on their end about the date.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Fox News further clarified the story when anchor Julie Banderas told viewers that the truck “has a history of plate readers [at the border]” but that it “never actually passed through from Mexico into Eagle Pass.”
But the FBI’s confirmation of Jabbar’s U.S. citizenship and Fox News’ retractions didn’t stop the misinformation about the attacker’s citizenship status from continuing to circulate online. The posts by Trump and his son, as well as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.), have not been deleted.
Though authorities say the attack was inspired by the Islamic State group, there’s no indication that any noncitizens were involved in the New Orleans attack. The FBI confirmed on Thursday, Jan. 2, that Jabbar acted alone.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
