Authorities investigating the suspect in the truck attack that killed 14 and injured dozens in New Orleans on New 12 months’s Day are probing when, the place and the way his alleged “radicalization” occurred, an area official stated on Friday.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Military veteran and U.S.-born citizen from Texas, posted a number of movies on-line hours earlier than the Bourbon Avenue assault “proclaiming his help for ISIS” and mentioning he joined ISIS earlier than this summer season, in accordance with the FBI.
ABC Information has realized new particulars concerning the recordings Jabbar allegedly made, which have been posted to Fb shortly after 1 a.m. on New 12 months’s Day, apparently as Jabbar was driving to New Orleans. The movies present Jabbar recording himself, largely obscured by darkness, in accordance with an official who has seen the primary of 5 movies posted earlier than the assault. GPS directions could be heard within the background.
A cross with a photos of 18-year-old sufferer Ni’Kyra Cheyenne Dedeaux is seen at a memorial on Bourbon Avenue after it reopened to the general public on Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Within the video, Jabbar speaks in a measured tone, claiming he joined ISIS earlier that yr, in accordance with the official. He references New Orleans and hinting that he contemplated harming members of his circle of relatives earlier than deciding to hold out the assault, the official stated.
Sources advised ABC Information the FBI can also be reviewing a collection of audio recordings allegedly made the place Jabbar espouses spiritual views and beliefs.
Thus far, there is no such thing as a proof that any these movies or recordings have been flagged to regulation enforcement earlier than the assault unfolded.
Since Thursday, investigators have been targeted on piecing collectively his path to radicalization and the occasions that led as much as his determination to assault Bourbon Avenue.
Two U.S. officers advised ABC on Friday that, although it is nonetheless very early within the investigation, there is no such thing as a proof, thus far, that Jabbar had really been in touch with a direct ISIS consultant.
The officers additionally famous that there was no declare of accountability by ISIS.
Nonetheless, investigators are nonetheless working by means of his three telephones and two laptops and analyzing his journey historical past.
Jabbar’s international journey can also be a part of the continued investigation, regulation enforcement officers advised ABC Information.
Law enforcement officials stand guard on the entrance of Bourbon Avenue, close to to a makeshift memorial for the victims two days after a New 12 months’s Day truck assault in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Jan. 3, 2025.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
On Friday, Jabbar’s half-brother advised ABC Information the suspect traveled to Egypt in 2023 for round a month, telling his household he was going “as a result of it was low-cost and exquisite.”
Investigators are working to find out what he did throughout his journey in Egypt, why he went and who he interacted with whereas there, a number of sources stated. Important to the probe is whether or not he had been radicalized previous to the journey or if the journey marked the beginning of his radicalization.
“This subsequent most necessary part of the investigation is to learn how that radicalization occurred and if it occurred on that journey,” Orleans Parish District Legal professional Jason Williams advised ABC Information.
Jabbar was shot lifeless within the midst of Wednesday’s assault in New Orleans, after driving a pickup truck onto a sidewalk and round a parked police automotive serving as a barricade to plow into pedestrians over a three-block stretch on Bourbon Avenue, police stated.
Jabbar then exited the broken car armed with an assault rifle and opened fireplace on law enforcement officials, regulation enforcement stated. Officers returned fireplace, killing him.
Officers stated the primary 24 hours after the ramming assault have been occupied by a feverish effort to find out whether or not there have been further suspects on the free or if Jabbar labored with accomplices.
In one other replace Friday, authorities revealed Jabbar set a small fireplace within the hallway of the property in New Orleans he rented on Mandeville Avenue earlier than the assault utilizing “strategically positioned accelerants all through the home in his effort to destroy it and different proof of his crime,” in accordance with the joint replace from FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Nonetheless, after Jabbar left the residence, the hearth burned itself out earlier than spreading to different rooms. When the New Orleans Hearth Division arrived, the hearth was smoldering, and investigators have been capable of recuperate proof, together with pre-cursors for bomb making materials and a privately made machine suspected of being a silencer for a rifle.”
Relating to the explosive units, the FBI stated it believes that in the course of the Bourbon Avenue assault, Jabbar supposed to make use of a transmitter that was later discovered within the truck to detonate the units.
The transmitter, together with two firearms related to Jabbar, was being transported to the FBI Laboratory for added testing, authorities stated.
Earlier than the lethal ramming, surveillance footage confirmed Jabbar putting two improvised explosive units in coolers within the Bourbon Avenue space, investigators stated. He had a distant detonator within the truck to set off the 2 units, however each have been rendered protected, officers stated.
Location of New Orleans truck ramming assault
Map tiles by Google Earth
Inside one of many coolers, investigators discovered a tool consisting of a metal pipe, nails and a comparatively uncommon explosive chemical, a senior regulation enforcement official advised ABC Information on Friday. The distant detonation functionality apparently didn’t work, the official stated.
NBC Information was the primary to report on the uncommon chemical.
A search of Jabbar’s dwelling in Houston additionally turned up bomb-making supplies, sources confirmed to ABC Information on Thursday. The gadgets discovered have been additionally known as “precursor chemical compounds” by brokers within the area, sources stated.
The FBI and Division of Homeland Safety issued a joint intelligence bulletin warning the nation’s 18,000 law-enforcement businesses about potential copycats, ABC Information realized.
The bulletin was despatched out of an abundance of warning to sensitize regulation enforcement across the nation to be looking out for any exercise pointing to the usage of autos as a way to inflict mass casualties, sources advised ABC Information.
“We advise federal, state, native, tribal, and territorial authorities and regulation enforcement officers and personal sector safety companions to stay vigilant of potential copycat or retaliatory assaults impressed by this assault and different latest, deadly vehicle-ramming incidents throughout the globe,” the bulletin stated.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, has been recognized because the suspect in an assault that killed no less than 15 folks on Bourbon Avenue in New Orleans on New 12 months’s Day in 2025.
FBI
The bulletin notes that ISIS has been selling the usage of autos as a terrorism weapon since round 2014.
ISIS has ramped up requires its supporters to launch low-tech, mass casualty ramming assaults in latest months, sources advised ABC Information, particularly because the most recent Israel-Hamas conflict started in October 2023.
The bulletin said that Jabbar was impressed by ISIS however that there stays no proof of any co-conspirators. A senior law-enforcement official advised ABC Information that there’s thus far no signal of ISIS claiming accountability for the New Orleans assault.
“Regulation enforcement must be conscious that in lots of instances attackers have performed vehicle-ramming assaults with secondary weapons and will proceed the assault with edged weapons, firearms, or IEDs after the car has stopped,” the bulletin stated. The tactic might be “engaging” for international terrorist organizations and different actors because of its low complexity threshold, the warning stated.
An intelligence bulletin from the New York Police Division obtained by ABC Information indicated that ISIS supporters did have a good time the assault on-line. Violent extremists, the bulletin stated, “proceed to view densely populated walkways, parades, mass gatherings and different outside occasions alongside streets, particularly throughout holidays, as weak targets of alternative.”
“This enduring risk underscores the criticality of pre-staged blocker vehicles and the deployment of different successfully configured countermeasures together with heavy block, obstacles and bollards,” it added.
A band performs subsequent to crosses with photos of victims at a memorial on Bourbon Avenue after it reopened to the general public on Jan. 2, 2025, in New Orleans.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Regulation enforcement cleared and reopened Bourbon Street on Thursday because the investigation continued. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell stated authorities had the “confidence” to reopen the world to the general public forward of the Sugar Bowl on Thursday afternoon, which was initially scheduled for Wednesday however postponed within the wake of the assault.
“I wish to reassure the general public that the town of New Orleans will not be solely prepared for sport day right this moment, however we’re able to proceed to host large-scale occasions in our metropolis,” she stated. “Our hearts and prayers proceed to exit to the victims’ households,” Cantrell added.
President Joe Biden and First Woman Jill Biden will head to New Orleans on Monday to satisfy with the households and neighborhood members, the White Home stated. Biden stated Friday that he has spoken with victims’ households.
There is no such thing as a obvious direct connection between the New Orleans assault and Wednesday’s Tesla Cybertruck explosion outdoors the Trump Worldwide Resort Las Vegas, which can also be being investigated as a potential act of terror, the FBI stated Thursday.
