The FBI revealed that the New Orleans terrorist attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, visited the city twice in the weeks before the attack and recorded video using Meta smart glasses. He stayed at a rental home in New Orleans at the end of October and again in November, wearing the glasses to record video as he rode a bicycle through the French Quarter. Although he wore the glasses during the New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people, they were not activated for a livestream.
Jabbar placed two homemade bombs in the area prior to the attack, but neither detonated. He also set fire to a short-term rental house where bomb-making materials were found. The FBI released a compilation of clips showing Jabbar testing the glasses and surveillance footage of him in the area before the attack.
Investigators recovered two firearms, a semiautomatic pistol, and a rifle, purchased in a private sale in Texas. Jabbar, a Texas-born U.S. citizen and Army veteran, claimed to have joined ISIS earlier that year. He acted alone during the attack and is not believed to have had any U.S.-based accomplices.
The FBI is investigating many of Jabbar’s associates, both domestic and abroad, including trips he made to Cairo and Canada. Myrthil stated that agents are trying to determine where he went, who he met with, and how those trips may be connected to his actions in New Orleans.
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