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SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express-News says the Edwards Aquifer, the largest groundwater system in Central Texas, will start the new year with water levels more than 40 feet lower than normal in San Antonio as the region’s years-long drought continues. The water level in the aquifer’s key J-17 well will start the year at its second-lowest Jan. 1 reading ever. That’s an indicator that the region’s water systems — strained by population growth and drought — will remain under pressure in the coming months.

Without improvement, restrictions on use of water from the aquifer are expected to continue and potentially escalate, in an effort to prevent springs from drying up for the first time in decades. The Edwards Aquifer is a limestone groundwater system that stores freshwater below Central Texas. It provides drinking water for more than 2 million people in the region, including more than half of the San Antonio Water System’s annual supply. As the region continues growing, there’s increasing demand on the aquifer and other water sources — more straws pulling water out of the glass to feed a thirsty population. Rainfall in the aquifer’s recharge zone, to the north and west of San Antonio, replenishes water levels, while pumping water from the aquifer lowers it. But precipitation hasn’t been nearly enough to replace the water leaving the aquifer, and water levels have triggered drought restrictions that have remained in place since spring 2022.

AUSTIN – The Dallas Morning News reports a proposal targeting puppy mills — places that breed puppies for sale, often in inhumane conditions — is expected to come before the Texas Legislature next year for the third consecutive session. Animal advocates say there’s a pipeline of puppy mills outside of Texas that ship pups across state lines to supply pet stores with young animals that are often transported in poor conditions, sometimes for thousands of miles. Dallas in 2022 became the 18th city in Texas to ban the sale of dogs and cats at pet stores, resulting in the closure of a local Petland, according to the Texas Humane Legislation Network, an advocacy group for the humane treatment of animals.

Gov. Greg Abbott last year signed into law a bill blocking cities and counties from passing ordinances inconsistent with state laws regulating business and commerce. With no state law regulating sales from pet stores, at least 10 new pet stores have since opened in Texas, with others set to open in Mansfield and North Richland Hills. “Now these stores are popping up everywhere, and that is why this legislation is critical,” said Shelby Bobosky, executive director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network. “In Texas, you can’t sell puppies in Dallas, but you can sell them next door in Carrollton.” California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New York, Oregon and Washington have laws regulating humane pet sales, according to Best Friends Animal Society. Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, introduced legislation in 2021 that would have banned the sale of dogs and cats from pet stores unless the animals came from an animal control agency, animal shelter, animal rescue organization or licensed breeder. Like the Dallas ordinance, a violation of Patterson’s bill would have been a civil penalty of up to $500 for each dog or cat unlawfully sold. Versions of Patterson’s legislation passed the House in April 2021 and Senate a month later, but differences in the bills weren’t reconciled in time to become law.

DALLAS — Oil and gas activity increased slightly in fourth quarter 2024, according to oil and gas executives responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Energy Survey.

The business activity index—the survey’s broadest measure of conditions facing Eleventh District energy firms—came in at 6, suggesting a small increase in activity since the last survey.

“The oil and gas sector is entering 2025 on a relatively quiet note, with business activity growing slightly compared to last quarter,” said Michael Plante, Dallas Fed principal research economist.

Key takeaways:

• Outlooks improved this quarter with the company outlook index jumping 19 points to reach 7.1.

• The oil production index was 1.1 this quarter, suggesting oil production was relatively flat compared to the third quarter.

• Conditions among oilfield service firms weakened but the pace of deterioration slowed, according to most indexes. The business activity index rose from -18.1 last quarter to 2.2. The equipment utilization index improved from -20.9 to -4.4. The operating margin index was -17.8 vs. last survey’s read of -32.6.

• Both employment and employee hours remained close to last quarter’s level. The employment index was 2.2 while the employee hours index was zero.

Firms report on capital spending plans for 2025

“About half of large E&P companies responded that they expect their capital spending to decrease in 2025. This is going to weigh on overall capital spending for the industry given the relative size and importance of these companies for spending and production,” Plante said. [download audio clip]

Additional takeaways from the special questions:

• Among all firms, 43 percent of executives expect capital spending in 2025 to increase slightly compared to 2024 while 14 percent expect a significant increase. Another 19 percent expect capital spending to remain close to 2024 levels, while 12 percent reported they expect a slight decrease and 11 percent a significant decrease.

• Two-thirds of firms reported that they do not anticipate increasing their investment in 2025 relative to what they anticipated three months ago.

• Firms are, on average, using a West Texas Intermediate crude oil price of $68 for capital planning in 2025. This is down slightly from last year’s average of $71.

• Most executives expect permitting times for drilling wells on federal lands to improve over the next four years. Thirty-five percent of executives expect a slight decrease in permitting times while 33 percent expect a significant increase. Twenty-six percent expect little change while only 6 percent anticipate permitting times to increase.

• Large E&P firms are more likely to report they have plans to reduce emissions, reduce flaring, and/or recycle/reuse water compared to small E&P companies.

• Only 5 percent of E&P companies noted they have plans to invest in renewables.

The survey samples oil and gas companies headquartered in the Eleventh Federal Reserve District, which includes Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Louisiana. Many have national and global operations.

Data were collected December 11–19, 2024, and 134 energy firms responded. Of the respondents, 87 were exploration and production firms, and 47 were oilfield services firms.

For more information, visit dallasfed.org.

DALLAS – The Texas Tribune reported that a multi-year fight over whether Southern Methodist University can separate itself from the United Methodist Church is heading to Texas’ highest court this month. The Texas Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit between the 12,000-student private university in Dallas and the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church on Jan. 15.

In 2019, SMU leadership changed its articles of incorporation and declared that its board of trustees was the “ultimate authority” over the university, not the United Methodist Church. The university’s articles of incorporation detail how the university is governed and by whom.

The university’s decision to update the documents and assert the board’s sole control over the school came during a tumultuous time in the Methodist church’s history. In 2019, members endorsed a ban on LGBTQ+ clergy and prohibited pastors from performing same-sex unions. It sparked a massive clash within the church, prompting thousands of conservative churches who were tired of the fight to disaffiliate and start their own more conservative church, now called the Globalist Methodist Church. Continue reading SMU’s bid to split from United Methodist Church over LGBTQ+ rights heads to Texas Supreme Court

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An 18-year-old girl dreaming of becoming a nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton football star suffered fatal injuries when the driver of a white pickup truck sped down Bourbon Street, packed with holiday revelers early Wednesday morning.

Officials have not yet released the names of the 15 people killed in the New Orleans New Year’s Day truck attack, but their families and friends have started sharing their stories. New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna said in a statement late Wednesday that they will release the names of the dead once autopsies are complete and they’ve talked with the next of kin. About 30 people were injured.
Nikyra Dedeaux

Zion Parsons of Gulfport, Mississippi, had been celebrating New Year’s Eve at his first night on Bourbon Street when a vehicle appeared and plowed into his friend, 18-year-old Nikyra Dedeaux, who he said had dreamed of becoming a nurse.

“A truck hit the corner and comes barreling through throwing people like in a movie scene, throwing people into the air,” Parsons, 18, told The Associated Press. “It hit her and flung her like at least 30 feet and I was just lucky to be alive.”

As the crowd scattered in the chaos he ran through a gruesome aftermath of bleeding and maimed victims, hearing gunshots and explosive sounds.

“Bodies, bodies all up and down the street, everybody screaming and hollering” Parsons said. “People crying on the floor, like brain matter all over the ground. It was just insane, like the closest thing to a war zone that I’ve ever seen.”

Dedeaux was a responsible daughter — shorter than all her siblings but the one who helped take care of everyone, Parsons said. Dedeaux had a job at a hospital and was set to start college and begin working towards her goal of becoming a registered nurse.

“She had her mindset — she didn’t have everything figured out but she had the plan laid down,” Parsons said.
Reggie Hunter

A 37-year-old father of two from Baton Rouge was among the 15 people killed early Wednesday when a pickup truck careened down Bourbon Street in what officials called an act of terror.

Reggie Hunter had just left work and headed to celebrate New Year’s with a cousin when the attack happened, his first cousin Shirell Jackson told Nola.com.

Hunter was killed and his cousin was injured, Jackson said.
Tiger Bech

A former high school and college football player from Louisiana was among those who died after a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ French Quarter, according to an education official.

Tiger Bech, 27, died late Wednesday morning at a New Orleans hospital, according to local media outlets citing Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette. Bech attended the high school, where he played wide receiver, quarterback, punt returner and defensive back, NOLA.com reported.

Bech played football at Princeton University before graduating in 2021. Most recently he was working as an investment trader at a New York brokerage firm.

Princeton football coach Bob Surace said Wednesday that he had been texting with Bech’s father, sharing memories of the player, who was a school kick returner and receiver from 2017 to 2019. He earned All-Ivy League honors as a returner.

“He might be the first Tiger to ever play for us, and that nickname kind of described him as a competitor,” Surace told ESPN. The school’s nickname is the Tigers. “He was somebody that somehow, like in the key moments, just excelled and was full of energy, full of life.”

Bech has been working at Seaport Global, where company spokesperson Lisa Lieberman could not confirm his death. But she told The Associated Press that “he was extremely well regarded by everybody who knew him.”

Bech’s younger brother, Jack, is a top wide receiver at Texas Christian University.

In a response to a KLFY-TV report posted on X about Tiger Bech’s death, a post from an account for a Jack Bech on the social media site said: “Love you always brother ! You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us.”
Nicole Perez

Nicole Perez was a single mother to a 4-year-old son working hard to make life better for her family when she was killed in the New Orleans truck attack, according to her employer.

Perez, who was in her late 20s, was recently promoted to manager at Kimmy’s Deli in Metarie, Louisiana and “was really excited about it,” deli owner Kimberly Usher said in a phone interview with AP. Usher confirmed Perez’s death through her sister, who also works for her.

Usher said Perez would walk in the morning to the deli, which opened at breakfast time, and would ask lots of questions about the business side of the operations. She also was permitted to bring her son, Melo, to work, where during breaks she taught him basic learning skills.

“She was a really good mom,” said Usher, who started a GoFundMe account to cover Perez’s burial costs and to help with expenses for her son that “he will need to transition into a new living situation,” the donation request says.

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Jack Brook in New Orleans, Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Martha Bellisle in Seattle contributed to this report.

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The story has been corrected to change Tiger Bech’s age from 28 to 27.

The suspect in a deadly attack on New Year’s revelers in New Orleans has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S.-born citizen and U.S. Army veteran from Texas, according to the FBI.

At least 15 people were killed and over two dozen injured after a rented Ford pickup truck was driven through a crowd on Bourbon Street at a high rate of speed early Wednesday, officials said.

Efforts continued late into the evening to learn more about the suspect and the incident.

Those efforts included the breach and search of two locations: an Airbnb in New Orleans that may be tied to the suspect and a residence in Houston that has been linked to Jabbar, sources told ABC News.

The Airbnb was involved in some kind of fire or detonation earlier in the day, the sources said, which raised concern about the possibility that there more explosives linked to the suspect that are yet to be recovered.

FBI Houston released a statement on X saying that it is working with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a court-authorized search of an address near the intersection of Hugh Road and Crescent Peak Drive in Houston.

“At this time, no arrests have been made and FBI personnel will be at the scene for several more hours,” the statement said, while urging the public to stay away from the area.

Specialized teams focusing on the operation include “the FBI SWAT team, Crisis Negotiators, Special Agent Bomb Technicians, Tactical Operations Center, Evidence Response Team, and a group of counterterrorism investigators,” according to FBI Houston.

An ISIS flag was found on a pole on the truck’s trailer hitch, and authorities are working to determine whether the deceased suspect had any affiliation with terrorist organizations.

However, authorities do believe Jabbar was radicalized in the last few years, a senior official told ABC News late Wednesday, and that radicalization may have been exacerbated by the Israel-Hamas war.

Addressing the nation from Camp David on Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden said, “The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos on social media indicating that he’s inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”

“The ISIS flag was found in his vehicle, which he rented to conduct this attack,” Biden said. “Possible explosives were found in the vehicle as well, and more explosives were found nearby.”

However, he cautioned, “The situation is very fluid and the investigation is in its preliminary stage.”

The FBI is studying videos the suspect appears to have recorded while driving from Texas to Louisiana, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The suspect is not seen but is allegedly heard talking about his divorce and about a desire to kill members of his family before ultimately deciding to carry out the attack on Bourbon Street, the sources said.

The suspect is also heard talking about ISIS, the sources said.

After barreling through the crowd over a three-block stretch, the suspect allegedly got out of the truck wielding an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, law enforcement officials briefed on the incident told ABC News.

Officers returned fire, killing the suspect, police said. At least two police officers were shot and wounded, authorities said.

“This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could,” New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a press briefing on Wednesday afternoon.

She said the driver was “hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did.”

Weapons and potential IEDs were located in the suspect’s vehicle and other potential IEDs were located in the French Quarter, according to the FBI, which is leading the investigation. As of now, two IEDs have been found and rendered safe, the FBI said.

Investigators found homemade pipe bombs at the scene of the Bourbon Street attack, law enforcement sources told ABC News. The crude devices contained coils and nails, the sources said. Authorities also found a grenade, which is among the items tested for viability, sources said.

In addition to the assault rifle, Jabbar was allegedly armed with a handgun, sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described the horrific incident as a “terrorist attack” and the FBI said it was being investigated as an act of terror.

The suspect is not believed to be “solely responsible” for the attack, according to the FBI, which said it is pursuing leads to identify any of his associates.

“There are other potential suspects out there, as well,” said New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno on Wednesday. “So we do have really a multi-agency effort at this point to identify anyone else who may have had anything to do with this particular incident and make sure that justice does prevail and that these individuals are caught and targeted immediately.”

New Orleans police have reviewed surveillance video that appears to show several people planting potential explosive devices in advance of the vehicle ramming, leading the FBI to conclude the driver of the pickup truck did not act alone in the attack, law enforcement sources told ABC News early Wednesday.

Individuals appearing in one such video relating to the area where potential explosive devices were thought to have been planted are being considered unrelated passersby as of Wednesday evening, federal authorities said, though the investigation remains ongoing.

Investigators are urgently working to identify any individuals appearing on camera in potentially related areas and will take any potential persons of interest into custody, sources said.

“It’s all hands on deck to find anyone else who had any type of involvement in this,” Moreno said.

In his remarks on Wednesday evening, Biden confirmed that the law enforcement community was continuing to investigate any “connections, associations or co-conspirators.”

Additionally, Biden said, authorities were looking into any possible connection with the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

“Thus far there is nothing to report on that score,” Biden said, adding that law enforcement was working to “ensure that there is no remaining threat to the American people.”

The president added that, regardless of the suspect’s actions or intent, “the spirit of our New Orleans will never, never, never be defeated.”

Jabbar served in human resources and information technology roles in the Army from 2007 to 2015, during which he deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, an Army spokesperson confirmed to ABC News. He continued as an IT specialist in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020, the spokesperson said. His listed jobs were not direct combat roles.

Jabbar is believed to have been discharged honorably from the Army, though investigators are still looking into his military record, the FBI said.

The suspect had earlier enlisted in the Navy, in August 2024, though he never went to boot camp and was discharged from the delayed entry program one month later, according to a Navy spokesperson.

In a YouTube video posted in 2020, Jabbar says he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and spent a decade working in the U.S. military before becoming a Realtor in the Houston area. His years in the military were spent working as a human resources and IT specialist, Jabbar says in the video, which has since been removed from YouTube.

The suspect has been living in the Houston area, according to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Authorities with the FBI and Harris County Sheriff’s Office were “conducting law enforcement activity” in an area of north Houston in connection with the New Orleans attack, FBI Houston said Wednesday afternoon.

The suspect worked for Deloitte, having served in a “staff-level role” since being hired in 2021, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed to ABC News.

“We are shocked to learn of reports today that the individual identified as a suspect had any association with our firm,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Like everyone, we are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing all we can to assist authorities in their investigation.”

His title at Deloitte was “senior solution specialist,” according to a source.
Used Turo to rent truck used in attack

The truck used in the attack had a Texas license plate, according to Carter.

The vehicle appeared to be a Ford F-150 Lightning, an electric vehicle. It appears the truck was rented through the Turo app — a carsharing company, according to Rodrigo Diaz, the owner of the truck.

Diaz told ABC News he rented the truck to an individual through the app and is currently talking to the FBI. He declined further comment.

Diaz’s wife, Dora Diaz, told ABC News that she and her husband are devastated by the incident.

“My husband rents cars through the Turo app. I can’t tell you anything else. I’m here with my kids, and this is devastating,” Dora Diaz said.

ABC News has reached out to Turo.

The suspect rented the truck on Monday, according to Patrick.

“[We] have learned he was driving the rented truck in Houston before heading to New Orleans,” Patrick said.

“We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat,” a Turo spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals.”

The company said it is actively cooperating with authorities and the investigation.

ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.

The man suspected of carrying out the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, had a checkered marital history punctuated by multiple divorces and financial difficulty, according to court records reviewed by ABC News.

The records also show that after his military service, Jabbar worked for two of the nation’s largest professional services firms, Ernst & Young and Deloitte, as he aimed to grow his own fledgling real estate business.

Jabbar has been identified by the FBI as the suspect in the deadly attack on New Year’s revelers. At least 15 people were killed and over two dozen injured after a rented Ford pickup truck was driven through a crowd on Bourbon Street at a high rate of speed early Wednesday, officials said.

Jabbar, who police said was killed during the attack, was a 42-year-old U.S.-born citizen and U.S. Army veteran from Texas, according to the FBI.

As of 2022, while employed by Deloitte, documents show Jabbar was making close to $125,000 a year — a salary which was chipped away at by court-ordered payments for his children from a past marriage and weighed down by credit card and mortgage debt.

In 2012 in Harris County, Texas, ex-wife Nakedra Charrllee Jabbar successfully sued him for child support payments for the couple’s two girls, who were eight and three years old at the time, according to court records.

Four years later, in 2016, Jabbar filed for divorce from another wife, Tiera Symone Jabbar, in Dekalb County, Georgia. The complaint form, filled out in handwriting, says the two married in Sept. 2013 but separated less than two and a half years later in Feb. 2016. Under grounds for divorce, Jabbar checked the box on the form that read “our marriage is irretrievably broken,” adding that the pair “can no longer live together and there is no hope that we will get back together.”

In July 2020, in Fort Bend County, Texas, Jabbar filed for divorce from wife Shaneen Chantil Jabbar, whom he married in Nov. 2017, according to court filings. But the pair jointly sought to dismiss the suit only a month after it was filed, saying they “both no longer desire[d] to prosecute his/her respective suits against the other party” — a request that the court granted.

However, when Jabbar again filed for divorce a year later, his then-wife responded with a counterclaim that sparked a lengthy battle of briefs indicating apparent bad blood between them that may have at least in part stemmed from financial difficulties.

In one filing, Shaneen’s lawyer accused Jabbar of “flagrant disregard” of his financial duties to their household — alleging that during their marriage, Jabbar “was entrusted with the management, control, and disposition of substantially all community estate funds.”

Though Shaneen “trusted and believed” her husband “would faithfully execute” his management, he violated their “fiduciary relationship,” his soon-to-be ex’s lawyer alleged.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar “has intentionally and in flagrant disregard of the duties as manager and trustee of the community funds mismanaged the community estate, all in fraud of” his wife’s financial interest, she said.

Shaneen’s filings also claimed that Jabbar withheld important information from the court about his retirement savings, with one record from July 2022 alleging Jabbar had failed to produce statements showing his participation in the retirement plan at Ernst & Young, where the filing indicates Jabbar worked prior to joining Deloitte.

The acrimonious split from Shaneen also featured Jabbar breaking with his own laywer. Attorney Robert Tsai — who represented Jabbar in his 2012 divorce — withdrew from the case in Sept. 2021, citing an inability to “effectively communicate” with his client “in a manner consistent with good attorney-client relations.” Court records indicate Jabbar represented himself through the remainder of the divorce proceedings.

In court records Jabbar laid out some of his financial difficulties as he explained why he sought a divorce settlement that would have the couple selling their house and splitting the proceeds. The property management firm Jabbar founded, Blue Meadow Properties, was failing to produce any revenue and was in fact losing money, per his submissions to the court.

“Time is of the essence,” he wrote in an email to his wife’s lawyer on Jan 6, 2022. “l can not afford the house payment. It is past due in excess of $27,000 and in danger of foreclosure if we delay settling the divorce. The home was not in default at the time we agreed to the temporary orders. l misunderstood the terms of the loan modification I had applied for at the time.”

Jabbar’s filings in the 2022 divorce from Shaneen show he was already responsible for paying $2,200 in child support per month following his divorce from Nakedra. Ultimately, Jabbar was ordered to pay an additional $1,353 a month in child support to help care for the son he shared with Shaneen, according to the documents.

The court ordered Deloitte to withhold the extra child support from his paychecks.

His ex-wife Shaneen got the house, despite Jabbar’s asking that the asset be sold and the proceeds split, court records show. She received primary custody of their son, though Jabbar got visitation rights, the records said.

During their divorce, court records show both Jabbard and Shaneen took four hours’ instruction on parenting from the “Texas Cooperative Parenting Course,” and each received a certificate indicating they had “successfully completed” the course and were “hereby committed to working with the other parent in the best interest of their child/children.” Jabbar’s is dated Aug. 20, 2021. Shaneen’s is dated Aug. 30, 2021.

ABC News attempted on Wednesday to contact Nakedra, Tiera and Shaneen. Phone calls or text messages were not returned.

Law enforcement agencies are expanding their investigation into the New Year’s ramming attack on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street which killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more in the early hours of Wednesday.

City and federal officials said an Army veteran — identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42 — was “hell-bent” on killing as many people as possible. The suspect drove a pickup truck around a parked police car serving as a barricade and plowed into crowds of revelers, officials said.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said during a Wednesday news conference that security bollards were not working at the time because they were in the process of being replaced for the upcoming Super Bowl. She confirmed that the suspect drove on the sidewalk to get around a police car blocking the intersection.

The suspect mowed down dozens of people over a three-block stretch on the world-famous thoroughfare while firing into the crowd, police said.

The alleged attacker then exited the damaged vehicle armed with an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, law enforcement officials said. Jabbar was also armed with a handgun, sources told ABC News.

Officers returned fire, killing Jabbar, a U.S.-born citizen from Texas, sources said. At least two police officers were injured, one by gunfire and the other when the officer was pinned by the truck, authorities said.

Althea Duncan, assistant special agent in charge of FBI New Orleans field office, said investigators do not believe Jabbar acted alone.

“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” Duncan said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates. That’s why we need the public’s help. We are asking if anybody had any interaction with Shamsud-Din Jabbar in the last 72 hours that you contact us.”

Duncan also said improvised explosives devices and other weapons were found inside the pickup truck used in the attack. She said two additional IEDs were discovered in the French Quarter and rendered safe.

The IEDs found in and around the scene on Bourbon Street were apparently determined to be viable, and investigators were looking for more in the city’s French Quarter, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The FBI said two devices were found and rendered safe. Crude pipe bombs stuffed with coils and nails were found at the scene along with a grenade, sources said.

New Orleans police have reviewed surveillance video that appears to show several people planting potential explosive devices in advance of the vehicle attack, which led them to believe the suspect did not act alone, sources said. Investigators said they were urgently working to identify the individuals who were seen on camera and to take them into custody.

The FBI offices in New Orleans and Houston released statements late Wednesday announcing searches related to the attack.

“FBI special agents and our law enforcement partners are currently conducting a number of court authorized search warrants in New Orleans and other states,” the FBI’s New Orleans field office said in a statement, adding that they planned to hand over the New Orleans crime scene to local authorities by Thursday morning.

Meanwhile the FBI in Houston posted on X that they and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office were “continuing a court-authorized search of a location near the intersection of Hugh Road and Crescent Peak Drive.”

“At this time, no arrests have been made, and FBI personnel will be at the scene for several more hours,” the post continued.

Authorities are also working to determine whether there may be a link between the New Orleans attack and a Tesla Cybertruck explosion on Wednesday outside the Trump Las Vegas hotel in Nevada, which is being investigated as a possible act of terror, an official said.

The Cybertruck that exploded was rented via the Turo app, as was the truck used in the New Orleans attack, sources told ABC News.

On Wednesday afternoon, the FBI in Houston and the Harris County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office, posted a message on social media that they are “currently conducting law enforcement activity near the intersection of Hugh Road and Crescent Peak Drive in north Houston” related to the New Orleans attack.

“We have secured a perimeter in that area and are asking people to avoid the area,” the notice said. “FBI Houston personnel and specialized teams will be on-site for several hours. This activity is related to this morning’s New Orleans attack, but due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, no further information can be provided.

President Joe Biden, meanwhile, decried what he called a “heinous act” when addressing the New Orleans attack Wednesday night at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

Biden said that the FBI told him that “mere hours before the attack, [Jabbar] posted videos on social media indicating that he’s inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”

Biden also said “law enforcement and the intelligence community” were investigating whether there was “any possible connection” between the New Orleans attack and the Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas.

“Thus far, there’s nothing to report on that score,” Biden said.

Biden said that the New Orleans suspect was “an American citizen, born in Texas. He served in the United States Army on active duty for many years. He also served in the Army Reserve, until a few years ago.”

The FBI is studying the videos Biden referenced in his remarks, which the suspect appears to have recorded while driving from Texas to Louisiana, law enforcement sources confirmed to ABC News.

The videos are dark so the suspect isn’t seen but he can be heard talking about his divorce and a desire to kill members of his family before ultimately deciding to carry out the attack on Bourbon Street, according to the law enforcement sources.

The suspect is also heard talking about ISIS, the sources said.

New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna released a statement late Wednesday afternoon that said, “As of now, 15 people are deceased.”

“It will take several days to perform all autopsies. Once we complete the autopsies and talk with the next of kin, we will release the identifications of the victims,” McKenna’s statement continued.

Rep. Troy Carter, D-Louisiana, told ABC News earlier Wednesday afternoon that the number of people killed in the incident had risen from 10 to 15. He said another 25 people were hospitalized with injuries.