The recently elected President Donald Trump’s appointed border chief expressed confidence that investigators would uncover a link between two apparent terror incidents on New Year’s Day in New Orleans and Las Vegas—but he also conceded that this belief stemmed from a “gut feeling.”
In an interview with America Reports host Sandra Smith on Fox News Thursday, Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), suggested that the explosion in Nevada that left seven injured and the truck attack on New Orleans’ famed Bourbon Street resulting in 14 fatalities shared “too many similarities”—though he acknowledged his thoughts were not founded on any concrete evidence.
“I have a strong sense that there will be more to uncover later on. I might be mistaken—it’s simply a gut feeling I possess,” Homan stated.
Nevertheless, authorities in both Las Vegas and New Orleans have not yet established any links between the two suspects, both of whom died in their respective incidents.
During a news conference on Thursday, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill shared that they traced the activities of the Las Vegas suspect, Matthew Livelsberger, by monitoring Tesla charging stations on his route from Colorado to Nevada.
“We’ve only observed him using this vehicle. To our knowledge, there are no other individuals involved in this particular case,” McMahill noted. The sheriff did mention some similarities between the two suspects, though he stated that these connections are still being examined.
An official from the FBI echoed this perspective regarding the suspect in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, whom they believe acted independently.
“We currently do not assess that anyone else… is implicated in this attack aside from Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the individual you’ve already been informed about,” said FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia during a press conference in Louisiana.
“We are pursuing every conceivable lead and keeping options open. However, at this stage, there is no conclusive connection between the assault in New Orleans and the incident in Las Vegas.”
Raia emphasized during the press briefing that the investigation remains in its preliminary phase.
Throughout the interview, Smith inquired whether Homan possessed any evidence that would contradict law enforcement’s evaluations of the two events.
“Do you have any additional information, or have you been made aware of anything beyond what we just heard directly from the police in Las Vegas?”
“No, I don’t, this is just a gut feeling,” Homan acknowledged. “With three and a half decades of experience, I see too many parallels, too much coincidence. I think eventually, they will reveal some connection—whether through a shared network or the means used to execute these terror attacks. I just have the impression that something will emerge later on, and I could be mistaken—it’s just a gut feeling I hold.”
