The FBI is looking into the past travels of the suspect in the deadly New Year’s Day truck attack that claimed 14 lives in New Orleans.
At a press briefing on Sunday, the agency said it still believes Shamsud-Din Jabbar acted alone when he drove his truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others.
Lyonel Myrthil, FBI special agent in charge of the New Orleans field office, revealed that Jabbar visited the city twice before the attack—once in October and again in November. He was in town for at least two days, and stayed at a rental property. He rode a bike around the French Quarter and filmed videos using smart glasses made by Meta. The glasses look like regular glasses but let users record videos, take photos, and livestream hands-free.
Myrthil said Jabbar was wearing the glasses during the attack, but the camera was turned off.
The FBI also revealed Jabbar had traveled to Cairo, Egypt, and Ontario, Canada, but they haven’t determined whether those trips were connected to the attack.
"We have also tracked that Jabbar traveled to Cairo, Egypt, from June 22 until July 3 of 2023. A few days later he flew to Ontario, Canada, on July 10 and returned to the U.S. on July 13 of 2023," Myrthil said.
"Our agents are getting answers as to where he went, who he met with and how those trips may or may not tie into his actions in our city in New Orleans," he added.
The FBI is also investigating Jabbar's domestic travels, which include trips to the Atlanta and Tampa areas. Myrthil said there is no indication of further arrests at this time, but they’re looking for potential witnesses from those areas.
On Dec. 31, Jabbar was spotted at one of multiple gun stores he visited in Texas leading up to the attack, and stopped at a business, where he purchased one of the coolers he used to hide explosive devices.
He arrived in Louisiana around 2:30 p.m. His rented vehicle was seen in Gonzales around 9 p.m., and by 10 p.m., he was seen on surveillance video unloading a white pickup truck outside the rental home on Mandeville Street, the FBI said.
The FBI said about three hours later, at 12:41 a.m., Jabbar parked the truck and walked to Royal and Governor Nichols Streets. He left the first IED in a cooler at Bourbon and St. Peter, but someone dragged it a block away to Bourbon and Orleans, where it was found after the attack. Investigators don’t believe the person who moved the cooler was involved.
On Friday, the FBI said that a transmitter, intended to detonate the two bombs, was found in Jabbar's rental truck, and that bomb-making materials had been found at the Mandeville property and Jabbar’s residence in Houston.
Authorities also said he attempted to destroy evidence by setting the house on fire. He put accelerants around the home and lit a small fire in a closed-off hallway, but the fire was smoldering by the time the New Orleans Fire Department arrived. He was the only person with access to the home at the time, according to the FBI.
On Sunday, the FBI said investigators had recovered two firearms belonging to Jabbar—a 9 mm pistol and a .308 caliber semi-automatic rifle. The pistol was purchased through a private sale in Arlington, Texas on Nov. 19, 2024. The seller didn’t know Jabbar and was unaware the gun would be used in an attack, the FBI said. In Texas, private-sale transactions are legal, and Arlington police told WFAA they are not investigating any crimes related to the attack.
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