The man responsible for the New Year's Day truck attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day that killed 14 people visited the city twice before and recorded video of the French Quarter with Meta smart glasses.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar also traveled to Cairo and Canada before the attack although it was not clear whether those trips were connected to the attack, FBI official Christopher Raia said, the Associated Press reports. Officials believe Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and former U.S. Army soldier, was inspired by the Islamic State militant group. Police fatally shot Jabbar, 42, during an exchange of gunfire at the scene of the deadly crash of the rented pickup truck on Bourbon Street. “All investigative details and evidence that we have now still support that Jabbar acted alone here in New Orleans,” said Raia. “We have not seen any indications of an accomplice in the United States, but we are still looking into potential associates in the U.S. and outside of our borders.”
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FBI agent Lyonel Myrthil said Jabbar used glasses from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to record video as he rode through the French Quarter on a bicycle as “he plotted this hideous attack.” He said Jabbar was also in New Orleans on Nov. 10. Jabbar had bomb-making materials at his home and reserved the vehicle used in the deadly attack more than six weeks earlier. Agents searching his home found a workbench in the garage and hazardous materials believed to have been used to make explosive devices. The FBI found that Jabbar purchased a cooler in Vidor, Tex., before the attack and gun oil from a store in Sulphur, La. Authorities also determined Jabbar booked a rental of the pickup truck on Nov. 14, suggesting he may have been plotting the attack for more than six weeks. Authorities found crude bombs that had been planted in the neighborhood in an apparent attempt to cause more carnage. Two improvised explosive devices left in coolers several blocks apart were rendered safe at the scene. Investigators recovered from Jabbar’s rental truck a transmitter intended to trigger the two bombs. Jabbar tried to burn down a house in New Orleans he rented before the attack by setting a fire in a hallway and placing accelerants to help spread it. Authorities say Jabbar left his crashed truck wearing a ballistic vest and helmet and fired at police, wounding at least two officers before he was fatally shot by officers returning fire.
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