The driver behind a terrorist attack in New Orleans planned to use a transmitter to detonate two bombs he placed on Bourbon Street and had additional explosive devices at a rental home he set on fire.
This update, shared in a joint statement from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), offers new details about Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s movements before he killed 14 people in the New Year's attack.
“The FBI assesses that during his attack on Bourbon Street, Jabbar intended to use a transmitter, that was found in the F150 truck, to detonate the two IED’s he placed on Bourbon Street,” the agencies said.
The agencies said they recovered bomb making materials both at a rental house on Mandeville Street in New Orleans as well as Jabbar’s residence in Houston, Texas.
The New Orleans Fire Department also determined that Jabbar set the New Orleans rental on fire, with the department rushing to the scene a little after 5 a.m. on New Year’s Day.
“ATF has determined that Jabbar was the only person who could have had access to the residence when the fire was set,” the bureau said. "ATF also determined that Jabbar set a small fire in the hallway, and strategically placed accelerants throughout the house in his effort to destroy it and other evidence of his crime."
That fire, however, extinguished itself before it was able to spread, enabling recovery of more evidence.
