The New Orleans terrorist who killed 14 people and injured 57 others on New Year’s Day searched the Internet for similar massacres and how to gain access to certain structures before going on his violent rampage.
Horror unfolded after Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, drove a white Ford F-150 into pedestrians in 2025 The French Quarter of New Orleans around 3:15 am local time.
On Tuesday, the FBI made public the latest, chilling amount of information about the sickening terror attack – including that hours before Jabbar’s killing spree, it sought information about the car used in the German Christmas market attack.
On December 20, 2024, an SUV driven by a 50-year-old Saudi doctor named Taleb al-Abdulmohsen allegedly rammed into a crowd at the famous Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five and injuring around 200 civilians.
An “examination of his electronics” also revealed that Jabbar had looked up how to gain access to a balcony on Bourbon Street, information about “several shootings in the city” and details about Mardi Gras, “through mid-November,” the agency found. .
The FBI also discovered that Jabbar boarded a train from Houston, Texas to New Orleans on November 10, returning on a bus later that day.
“While in town, Jabbar looked at an apartment for rent on Orleans Street. Just days after his trip, he signed up to rent the apartment, but later told the landlord he had changed his mind,” the FBI said.
The agency continues to investigate Jabbar’s motive behind the senseless massacre and shares evidence that leads them to believe he “became a devout Muslim in 2022.”
New Orleans terrorist Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, tracked down which car was used in the German Christmas market attack just hours before plowing into revelers on New Year’s Day
Around 3:15 a.m. local time that day, Jabbar drove a rented F-150 into pedestrians who were ringing in New Orleans’ French Quarter in 2025, killing 14 people and injuring 57.
‘During this time, Jabbar began to isolate himself from society. Around spring 2024, Jabbar began espousing extremist views,” the FBI noted.
Before the attack, Jabbar published a series of videos on social media pledging his allegiance to ISIS.
Following the tragic incident, an ISIS flag was subsequently found on a flagpole attached to his rental car.
Last week, New Orleans field office Lyonel Myrthil said the FBI is investigating another recent trip Jabbar made to Canada.
“We tracked Jabbar’s travel to Cairo, Egypt, from June 22 to July 3, 2023,” Myrthil said.
“A few days later, he flew to Ontario, Canada on July 10 and returned to the US on July 13, 2023.
“Our officers are getting answers about where he went, who he met and how these arrangements may or may not relate to his actions here in our city.”
He also visited New Orleans in October, when he walked around with Meta glasses on his face to record a video while riding his bicycle through the French Quarter, Myrthil said.
Other footage showed Jabbar wearing a brown jacket and placing the coolers containing the IEDs on busy NOLA streets.
The video showed the terrorist driving through the busy streets, where he would later plow down pedestrians with the truck.
“Jabbar was wearing Meta Glasses when he carried out the attack on Bourbon Street, but he did not activate the glasses to live stream his actions,” Myrthil said.
Surveillance footage showed him stopping at gun shops and stores where he purchased one of the ice chests used to store the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) he had planted.
Other footage showed Jabbar wearing a brown jacket and placing the coolers containing the IEDs on busy NOLA streets.
He reserved the vehicle used in the attack more than six weeks earlier, on Nov. 14, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press.
Jabbar suspected bomb-making materials at his Houston home, where there was a workbench in the garage and hazardous materials believed to have been used to make explosives, said officials familiar with a search conducted there.
Authorities found crude bombs near the attack in an apparent attempt to cause more carnage.
Two improvised explosive devices left in coolers several blocks apart were made safe at the scene. Other devices were determined to be non-functional.
Jabbar bought a cooler in Vidor, Texas, and gun oil from a store in Sulphur, Louisiana, hours before the attack, investigators said.
He also tried to set the house on fire by starting a small fire in a hallway with accelerants, but the flames were extinguished 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 of the victims died of blunt force injuries, while Jabbar was fatally shot during a shootout with police.
The youngest victim was 18 years old and the oldest was 63 years old. Most of the victims were in their twenties.
They came from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey and the United Kingdom.