The U.S. Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Years revellers acted alone, the FBI said Thursday, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others in carrying out a deadly attack being investigated as an act of terrorism inspired by the Islamic State group.

The FBI also revealed that the driver, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, posted five videos on his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he proclaimed his support for the militant group and previewed the violence that he would soon unleash in the citys famed French Quarter district.

“This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act,” said Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBIs counterterrorism division, calling Jabbar “100% inspired” by the Islamic State.

The attack along Bourbon Street killed 14 revellers, along with Jabbar, 42, who was fatally shot in a firefight with police after steering his speeding truck around a barricade and plowing into the crowd. About 30 people were injured.

It was the deadliest IS-inspired assault on U.S. soil in years, laying bare what federal officials have warned is a resurgent international terrorism threat. That threat is emerging as the FBI and other agencies brace for dramatic leadership upheaval after U.S. President-elect Donald Trumps administration takes office.

Raia stressed that there was no indication of a connection between the New Orleans attack and the explosion Wednesday of a Tesla Cybertruck filled with explosives outside Trumps Las Vegas hotel. The person inside that truck, a decorated U.S. Army Green Beret, shot himself in the head just before detonation, authorities said.

The FBI continued to hunt for clues about the 42-year-old Jabbar, but said that a day into its investigation, it was now confident that he was not aided by anyone else in the attack, which killed an 18-year-old aspiring nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton University football star, among others.

The attack plans also included the placement of crude bombs in the neighbourhood in an apparent attempt to cause more carnage, officials said. Two improvised explosive devices left in coolers several blocks apart were rendered safe at the scene. Other devices were determined to be nonfunctional.

Officials reviewed surveillance video showing people standing near one of the coolers but concluded that they were not connected in any way with the attack, though investigators still want to speak with them as witnesses, Raia said.

Investigators were also trying to understand more about Jabbars path to radicalization, which they say culminated with him picking up a rented truck in Houston on Dec. 30 and driving it to New Orleans the following night.

The FBI recovered a black Islamic State flag from his rented pickup and reviewed five videos posted to Facebook, including one in which he said he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned that news headlines would not focus on the war between the believers and the disbelievers, Raia said. He also left a last will and testament, the FBI said.

Jabbar joined the Army in 2007, serving on active duty in human resources and information technology and deploying to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, the service said. He transferred to the Army Reserve in 2015 and left in 2020 with the rank of staff sergeant.

A U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly, said Jabbar travelled to Egypt in 2023, staying in Cairo for a week, before returning to the U.S. and then travelling to Toronto for three days. It was not immediately clear what he did during those travels.

Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, Jabbars younger brother, told The Associated Press on Thursday that it doesnt feel real that his brother could have done this.

I never would have thought itd be him, he said. Its completely unlike him.

He said that his brother had been isolated in the last few years, but that he had also been in touch with him and he didnt see any signs of radicalization.

Its completely contradictory to who he was and how his family and his friends know him, he said.

Chris Pousson, of Beaumont, Texas, said he became friends with Shamsud-Din Jabbar in middle school, describing him as someone who was quiet and reserved and did not get into trouble.

After high school, he said, they reconnected on Facebook around 2008 or 2009 and would message back and forth throughout the next decade.

If any red flags would have popped off, I would have caught them, and I would have contacted the proper authorities, he said. But he didnt give anything to me that would have suggested that he is capable of doing what happened.

In New Orleans on Thursday, a still-reeling city inched back toward normal operations. Authorities finished processing the scene early in the morning, removing the last of the bodies, and Bourbon Street reopened by early afternoon.

Authorities finished processing the scene early in the morning, removing the last of the bodies, and Bourbon Street -- famous worldwide for music, open-air drinking and festive vibes -- reopened for business by early afternoon.

The Sugar Bowl college football playoff game between Notre Dame and Georgia, initially set for Wednesday night and postponed by a day in the interest of national security, was played Thursday evening. The city also planned to host the Super Bowl next month.

New Orleans is not only ready for game day today, but were ready to continue to host large-scale events in our city because we are built to host at every single turn, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.