The FBI agent tasked with providing updates on the New Orleans terrorist attack apparently removed her nose ring after being criticized online for it, according to Internet sleuths.
Special Agent Alathea Duncan was seen with the facial piercing during a morning press conference following the terrorist attack in the French Quarter, which left 14 dead on Wednesday.
But at the next news conference, Duncan appeared without the nose jewelry, sparking comments on social media since the FBI does not allow its agents to have facial piercings.
“Special Agent in Charge Aletha Duncan shows up on scene sporting a nose ring,” reads a post on X. “Can the FBI at least pretend to function as a serious law enforcement organization?”
‘Did FBI Special Agent Alethea Duncan remove her nose ring after her first press conference, when she said this was “not a terrorist event,” at her second press conference? wrote a popular X account.
Duncan also came under fire when she contradicted the NOLA mayor’s claim that the attack was terrorist in nature.
“This is not a terrorist event,” Duncan said before the FBI confirmed that the attack was indeed terrorist.
Special Agent Alathea Duncan came under fire online for wearing a nose ring while updating the public on the New Orleans terrorist attack on Wednesday.
At a later press conference, Duncan appeared without the nose ring.
According to the FBI, “Facial piercings are not permitted, except for female students, who are permitted to wear earrings.”
Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, acted alone when he drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, the FBI said Thursday, reversing its position from the previous day that he likely worked with others to carry out the deadly attack. which officials say was an act of terrorism inspired by the Islamic State group.
The FBI also revealed that the driver, a U.S. citizen from Texas, posted five videos to his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he aligned himself with ISIS and told viewers that he had joined the militant group before the attack. last summer.
‘This was an act of terrorism. “It was a premeditated and evil act,” said Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division.
The attack killed 14 people, including an 18-year-old woman who aspired to become a nurse. Authorities initially put the death toll at 15, including Jabbar, who was shot dead in a shootout with police.
Police shot him dead and the FBI said Wednesday it believed he did not act alone. Investigators found weapons and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle, along with other explosive devices in other parts of the French Quarter.
Officers fanned out to serve search warrants and spent hours at a Houston-area home believed to be connected to the investigation. But as of Thursday morning no additional arrests were known to have been made and it was unclear whether the FBI was still actively searching for more suspects.
The rampage turned festive Bourbon Street into a macabre scene of mutilated victims, bloodied bodies and pedestrians fleeing for safety inside nightclubs and restaurants. In addition to the dead, dozens of people were injured.
There were also deadly explosions outside a Las Vegas hotel owned by President-elect Donald Trump. Biden said the FBI was investigating whether the Las Vegas explosion was related to the New Orleans attack, but had “nothing to report” as of Wednesday night.