International Courant
The suspect within the lethal New Yr’s Day truck ramming assault in New Orleans made two earlier journeys to the town in October and November, apparently searching for the most effective location to hold out his rampage, and even used Meta good glasses to file video from a motorcycle experience by means of the French Quarter, the FBI stated.
The suspect – Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, an Military veteran and actual property agent from Houston – was additionally sporting Meta Glasses when he allegedly carried out the assault at 3:15 a.m. CT on January 1, however apparently didn’t register the assault or try. to stream it dwell, Lyonel Myrthil, particular agent in control of the company’s discipline workplace in New Orleans, stated throughout a information convention on Sunday.
At the very least 14 individuals had been killed and dozens injured within the assault, which befell on a three-block stretch of Bourbon Road in New Orleans’ bustling French Quarter.
Jabbar, a Texas resident who FBI officers stated had expressed help for the ISIS terror group in social media posts earlier than the assault, was killed by gunfire exchanged with New Orleans police.
Myrthil stated the investigation revealed two journeys Jabbar made to New Orleans in October and November. He stated Jabbar’s first journey to New Orleans started on Oct. 30, 2024.
“He was within the metropolis for a minimum of two days. Throughout that point, Jabbar, utilizing Meta glasses, recorded a video whereas driving a bicycle by means of the French Quarter,” Myrthil stated. “As we be taught extra about that journey, we’re asking anybody who noticed or spoke to him to contact us.”
Myrthil stated Jabbar made one other journey to New Orleans on November 10.
“However we’re nonetheless placing collectively the main points of that journey,” Myrthil stated.
Joshua Jackson, the particular agent in control of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ New Orleans discipline workplace, stated Jabbar was seen late on the night time of Dec. 31 unloading the white rental truck used within the assault on an Airbnb. rental on Mandeville Road within the St. Roch district.
Jackson stated that earlier than leaving the home at roughly 12:15 p.m. on January 1, simply three hours earlier than the assault, Jabbar allegedly poured gasoline on a chunk of laundry closest to and all through the house and set it on hearth, apparently hoping to destroy the property and any proof left in it.
Nonetheless, the fireplace was extinguished by the New Orleans Fireplace Division earlier than main injury occurred to the house, permitting investigators to grab explosive supplies and different proof left behind by the suspect, officers stated.
Myrthil stated the FBI reviewed video exhibiting Jabbar planting two improvised explosive gadgets (IEDs) on the streets of the French Quarter about three hours earlier than the assault, concealing the gadgets in coolers. Myrthil stated one of many coolers was “unknowingly” moved from the place it was planted at Bourbon and St. Peter streets to a different location within the French Quarter, a couple of block away, by a person unrelated to the suffered a catastrophe.
Jackson stated preliminary discipline testing confirmed the IEDs contained what he described as “R-Salt explosives,” saying the fabric is just like RDX explosives and available in the USA.
Jackson stated investigators don’t imagine Jabbar obtained the R-Salt explosives from overseas, which some media shops have reported.
The IEDs left within the two coolers didn’t go off as a result of Jabbar was shot lifeless by New Orleans law enforcement officials throughout a shootout that ensued after the truck was rammed, or as a result of he used the fallacious mechanism to detonate the explosives, Jackson stated . He stated it appeared Jabbar meant to detonate the gadgets with an digital match or a pastime change, each of that are available within the U.S., versus a extra skilled detonation machine, which is harder to acquire.
Jackson stated investigators imagine Jabbar constructed the IEDs at his Houston house, the place a search turned up bomb-making supplies, together with R-Salt.
Myrthil stated investigators are nonetheless trying into Jabbar’s current travels as they attempt to decide how he grew to become radicalized. In movies Jabbar recorded whereas driving from Texas to New Orleans, he’s reportedly “proclaiming his help for ISIS” and mentions that he had joined the terrorist group earlier than this summer season, the FBI stated.
However Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, stated Sunday that investigators have thus far discovered no proof that Jabbar acquired assist in the assault from ISIS or different people within the U.S. or elsewhere.
He stated the FBI continues to analyze who Jabbar met and interacted with throughout a visit he took to Cairo in June 2023. Raia stated that after returning to the US from Egypt, Jabbar flew to Ontario, Canada on July 10 for a separate journey. 2023, and returned to the US on July 13, 2023.
In the USA, Raia stated the investigation has additionally taken the FBI to Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Florida and Houston.
