The FBI is investigating terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s visit to Canada as they revealed new details into his planning of the New Orleans attack.
Investigators said they are now probing leads across the country and abroad of Jabbar’s movements leading up to the attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens.
Special agent in charge of the New Orleans Field Office Lyonel Myrthil told a press conference on Sunday: ‘We have tracked that Jabbar traveled to Cairo, Egypt, from June 22 until July 3 of 2023.
‘A few days later, he flew to Ontario, Canada on July 10 and returned to the U.S. on July 13, 2023.
‘Our agents are getting answers as to where he went, who he met with and how those trysts may or may not tie into his actions here in our city.’
Jabbar also made two trips to New Orleans prior to the heinous attack, one in October and a month later in November.
During that time, Jabbar used Meta glasses on his face to record a video as he rode through the French Quarter on a bicycle, Myrthil said.
The video showed the terrorist riding down the bustling streets where he would later plow down pedestrians with a rented white Ford F-150 EV brandishing an ISIS flag.
‘Jabbar wore a pair of Meta glasses when he conducted the attack on Bourbon Street, but he did not activate the glasses to live stream his actions,’ said Myrthil.
Surveillance footage captured him stopping at gun stores and shop where he purchased one of the ice chests used to hold the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) he planted.
Other new footage captured Jabbar wearing a brown coat planting the coolers containing the IEDs on the busy NOLA streets.
Jabbar proclaimed his support for the Islamic State militant group in online videos posted hours before he struck.
He reserved the vehicle used in the attack more than six weeks earlier, on November 14, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press.
Jabbar had suspected bomb-making materials at his Houston home, which contained a workbench in the garage and hazardous materials believed to have been used to make explosive devices, officials familiar with a search conducted there said.
Authorities found crude bombs in the neighborhood of the attack in an apparent attempt to cause more carnage.
Two improvised explosive devices left in coolers several blocks apart were rendered safe at the scene. Other devices were determined to be nonfunctional.
Jabbar purchased a cooler in Vidor, Texas, hours before the attack and gun oil from a store in Sulphur, Louisiana, investigators said.
Investigators searching Jabbar’s rental truck found a transmitter intended to trigger the two bombs, the FBI said in a statement Friday, adding that there were bomb-making materials at the New Orleans home he rented.
Jabbar also tried to burn down the house by setting a small fire in a hallway with accelerants but the flames burned out before firefighters arrived.
Jabbar exited the crashed truck wearing a ballistic vest and helmet and fired at police, wounding at least two officers before he was fatally shot by police.
New Orleans police have declined to say how many shots were fired by Jabbar and the officers or whether any bystanders may have been hit, citing the active investigation.
The coroner’s office said all the victims died from blunt force injuries while Jabbar, was fatally shot in a firefight with police.
The youngest victim was 18 years old and the oldest 63. Most victims were in their 20s.
They came from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey and the United Kingdom.