Truck-ramming suspect used wrong device in failed detonation of IEDs: Officials
The suspect in the deadly New Year's Day truck-ramming attack in New Orleans made two previous trips to the city in October and November, apparently scouting the best location to carry out his rampage, even using a pair of Meta smart glasses to record video of a bicycle ride through the French Quarter, the FBI said.
The suspect -- Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, an Army veteran and Houston realtor -- was also wearing Meta glasses when he allegedly executed the attack at 3:15 a.m. CT on Jan. 1, but apparently did not record the attack or attempt to livestream it, Lyonel Myrthil, special agent in charge of the bureau's New Orleans field office, said during a news conference on Sunday.
At least 14 people were killed and dozens were injured in the attack, which occurred over a three-block stretch of Bourbon Street in New Orleans' bustling French Quarter.
Jabbar, a Texas resident who FBI officials said proclaimed his support for the terror group ISIS in social media posts ahead of the attack, was killed in gunfire exchanged with New Orleans police.
Myrthil said the investigation has uncovered two trips Jabbar made to New Orleans in October and in November. He said Jabbar's first trip to New Orleans began on Oct. 30, 2024.
"He was in town for at least two days. During that time, Jabbar, using Meta glasses, recorded a video as he rode through the French Quarter on a bicycle," Myrthil said. "As we continue to learn more about that trip, we ask anyone who may have seen or interacted with him to contact us."
Myrthil said Jabbar made another trip to New Orleans on Nov. 10.
"But we are still piecing together details of that trip," Myrthil said.
Joshua Jackson, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in New Orleans, said Jabbar was seen late on the night of Dec. 31, unloading the white rental truck used in the attack at an Airbnb rental on Mandeville Street in the St. Roch neighborhood.
The FBI, according to Myrthil, believes Jabbar entered Lousiana at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 31.
Jackson said that before leaving the home at about 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 1, just three hours before the attack, Jabbar allegedly doused gasoline on a linen closet and throughout the residence and set it on fire, apparently hoping to destroy the property and any evidence left inside.
The fire, however, smothered itself out before reaching other accelerants in the homes, Jackson said. He said the New Orleans Fire Department extinguished the fire preventing extensive damage and allowing investigators to seize explosive materials and other evidence left behind by the suspect, officials said.
Myrthil said the FBI has reviewed a video showing Jabbar planting two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on the streets of the French Quarter before the attack, concealing the devices in coolers. Myrthil said one of the coolers was "unwittingly" moved from where it was planted on Bourbon and St. Peter streets to another location in the French Quarter about a block away by an individual who had nothing to do with the rampage.
Jackson said the preliminary field tests indicated the IEDs contained what he described as "R-Salt explosives," saying the material is similar to RDX explosives and easily obtained in the United States.
Jackson said investigators do not believe Jabbar obtained the R-Salt explosives from overseas, which some media outlets have reported.
The IEDs left in the two coolers failed to go off either because Jabbar was shot to death by New Orleans police officers during a gun battle that ensued after the truck ramming, or because he used the wrong mechanism to detonate the explosives, Jackson said. He said it appeared Jabbar had intended to detonate the devices with an electronic match or a hobby switch, which are both readily available in the U.S., as opposed to a more professional detonation device, which is harder to obtain.
"He didn't use the right or correct device to set it off, and that is just indicative of his inexperience and lack of understanding how that material might be set off," Jackson said.
Jackson said investigators believe Jabbar built the IEDs at his home in Houston, where a search turned up bomb-making materials, including RDX explosive material.
He said FBI laboratory technicians are comparing the explosive material found in Jabbar's Houston residence to what was found in the IEDs.
"The FBI lab will conduct additional tests on the material, which we believe will turn out to be commonly found explosives right here in the United States," Jackson said.
Myrthil said investigators are still probing Jabbar's recent travel as they attempt to determine how he became radicalized. In videos Jabbar recorded while driving to New Orleans from Texas, he is heard allegedly "proclaiming his support for ISIS" and mentioning he joined the terrorist group before this summer, according to the FBI.
But Christopher Raia, FBI deputy assistant director from the agency's counterterrorism division, said Sunday that investigators, so far, have uncovered no evidence Jabbar received help in the attack from ISIS or any other individuals in the U.S. or elsewhere.
"We have not seen any indications of an accomplice in the U.S., but we are still looking into potential associates in the U.S. and outside our borders," Raia said.
He said the FBI continues to investigate who Jabbar met and associated with during a trip he took to Cairo in June 2023. Raia said that after returning to the U.S. from Egypt, Jabbar flew to Ontario, Canada, for a separate trip on July 10, 2023, and returned to the U.S. on July 13, 2023.
In the United States, Raia said the investigation has also taken the FBI to Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Houston.
Jackson said Jabbar used a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and a .308-caliber semiautomatic rifle with a "privately made silencer" in the attack. He said another privately made silencer was found at the Mandeville Street house the suspect rented.
Jackson said Jabbar was spotted in several gun stores in the Houston area on Dec. 31 before he left for New Orleans.
Jackson did not disclose where Jabbar obtained the handgun, but said the rifle was purchased through a "private sale" with an individual in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 19, 2024.
"This individual, based on our investigation, does not know Jabbar. This was by chance encounter," Jackson said, adding that such private gun sales are legal in Texas. "There's no way this individual knew that Jabbar was radicalized or had any sort of awareness that this attack was imminent."
