There's no evidence of a 'second attack' in New Orleans following New Year’s Day attack

As New Orleans reels from a New Year’s Day attack that killed 14 people, some social media users have stoked fear with posts about an additional attack on the city.

"BREAKING: A second attack in New Orleans has been uncovered, police are searching," read one Jan. 4 Facebook post, with a note that encouraged people to check the post’s comments. 

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

(Screenshot from Facebook)

In the post’s comments, the Facebook user linked to a blog post titled, "Federal manhunt underway after … " The site didn’t signal when the post was written. 

Under the headline, the blog post read: "A federal manhunt is underway for four suspects who planted explosives in New Orleans before a deadly (attack)." It did not offer more information about the four purported "suspects" nor did it provide any details about the "second attack in New Orleans" that the Facebook post had mentioned. 

When we searched using Google and the Nexis news archive, we found no credible reports or information supporting claims that there was a second attack in New Orleans in the days following the Jan. 1 truck attack. 

We also found no reports that the FBI is pursuing four suspects in the Jan. 1 attack or a subsequent attack.

Since Jan. 2, the FBI has said that investigators believe Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran and American citizen from Texas, acted alone when he drove a pickup truck into a crowd on a busy street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Police shot and killed Jabbar in a shootout during the attack, officials said.

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Reports that Jabbar acted alone contradicted an initial FBI update, which might have contributed to online speculation that authorities were pursuing multiple suspects. During a Jan. 1 press conference, FBI Assistant Special in Charge Alethea Duncan told reporters: "We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible." 

As the FBI investigation has progressed, investigators have said they believe Jabbar acted alone and they are investigating the incident as a premeditated act of terrorism.

"This investigation is only a little more than 24 hours old," FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia said Jan. 2. "We do not assess, at this point, that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsud-Din Jabbar." 

Raia’s assessment was consistent in a Jan. 5 update: "All investigative details and evidence that we have now still support that Jabbar acted alone here in New Orleans. We have not seen any indications of an accomplice in the United States, but we are still looking into potential associates in the U.S. and outside of our borders."

The New Orleans Police Department referred our questions to the FBI. The bureau didn’t respond to us before publication.

Raia and other law enforcement officials have also rebutted claims that the New Orleans attack was linked to a Jan. 1 Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas.

A Facebook post said, "A second attack in New Orleans has been uncovered, police are searching."

We found no credible news reports or information about a second attack in New Orleans nor reports that investigators were pursuing additional suspects, despite the Facebook post’s claim. Investigators said Jabbar acted alone, and the investigation continues. 

We rate this claim False. 

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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