Suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar Set Fire to Airbnb Before New Orleans Attack
 |
| The Federal Bureau of Investigation released photos of surveillance footage that shows Shamsud-Din Jabbar an hour before he drove a truck down Bourbon Street, New Orleans |
The driver behind the deadly New Year's attack in New Orleans tried to destroy bomb-making evidence by setting fire to his rental property, according to the FBI and ATF.
On Friday, the agencies said they believe 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar started a small fire in the hallway of his rented Airbnb before the attack. He placed accelerants around the house to destroy evidence, but the fire burned out before spreading.
| Federal investigators say Shamsud-Din Jabbar used a very rare explosive compound in two IEDs he placed in the area where he later rammed a truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, killing 14. The rare compound has never been used in a U.S. terror attack or incident and has never been used in a European attack. |
This allowed the FBI to find evidence at the Airbnb, including bomb-making materials and a device suspected to be a silencer for a rifle.
Jabbar also placed two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on Bourbon Street. He didn't manage to detonate them before his death.
 |
| FBI Uncovers Evidence After New Orleans Terrorist Sets Fire to Airbnb |
The FBI believes Jabbar intended to use a transmitter found in his truck to detonate the IEDs on Bourbon Street.
All evidence recovery at Bourbon Street and the Airbnb on Mandeville Street used by Jabbar has been completed.
Suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar's Egypt Visit Scrutinized
The suspect in the truck attack that killed 14 and injured many in New Orleans on New Year's had traveled to Egypt in 2023 for about a month, his half-brother told ABC News.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran and U.S. citizen from Texas, went to Egypt alone and told his family he was going "because it was cheap and beautiful," his half-brother, 24-year-old Abdur Jabbar, said.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar's trip to Egypt is part of the ongoing investigation, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
Investigators are trying to find out what he did in Egypt, why he went, and who he met there. They want to know if he was radicalized before the trip or if it happened during the trip.
