New Orleans attack latest: Terror suspect used bomb materials never seen in US as police probe how he got them
Police are investigating the materials used in the devices near the Bourbon Street attack
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Your support makes all the difference.The terror suspect in the New Orleans rampage that killed 14 people and injured dozens reportedly used materials to make explosives that have never been used in a U.S. attack.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, used an extremely rare explosive compound that had never been seen before in any incidents in the U.S. or Europe, NBC News reported.
Jabbar planned to detonate two explosives that he had placed on Bourbon Street, FBI and ATF officials said in a joint statement Friday. He intended to use a transmitter, which was found in his vehicle, to ignite the bombs but ultimately did not.
It’s not immediately clear how or where he learned to make such an explosive. It’s yet another question for the FBI, which is also reportedly looking into Jabbar’s travel, including a trip to Egypt.
The federal agency is also trying to determine whether he became radicalized during his trip, ABC News reported.
Authorities recovered an ISIS flag from inside his vehicle.
“This next most important phase of the investigation is to find out how that radicalization happened and if it happened on that trip,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told the network.
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Congresswoman seeks info from Fort Bragg whistleblowers on New Orleans attacker
Congresswoman and Air Force veteran Anna Paulina Luna is seeking information from potential whistleblowers who served in the military with the men behind the New Orleans and Las Vegas incidents.
Both men served at Fort Liberty, formerly known as Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, though officials have said there’s no immediate evidence the two crossed paths there.
Troubling data suggests link between military service and likelihood of extremism
The men who carried out both the New Orleans truck attack and the Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas both had military backgrounds.
Data suggests a troubling correlation between military service and extremism.
Between since 2011, the number of people with U.S. military backgrounds who committed extremist crimes multiplied nearly seven times, compared with the annual rate between 1990 and 2010, The Intercept reports.
A separate study cited by outlet notes that military service is the single strongest predictor of people who seek to be “mass casualty offenders,” well higher than more commonly discussed factors like mental health.
Potential threats and dismay over Middle East: Family gives details on Jabbar
Family members and associates are shedding new light on New Orleans truck attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
An ex-wife, as part of Jabbar’s third divorce, asked a court to order the Texas man not to make threatening calls or harm her or their son.
A previous ex-wife, meanwhile, moved to limited Jabbar’s contact with their children due to unpredictable behavior.
Jabbar’s half brother, Abdur Jabbar, told The New York Times his brother had also grown dismayed in recent months by the Israel-Hamas war.
“He didn’t like it — he said it was genocide on both sides, inhumane,” he said. “It was senseless.”
The next question for New Orleans investigation: When Jabbar was radicalized
Now that investigators understand many of the basic facts of the New Orleans truck attack, they are trying to understand when attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar became radicalized and began to seek violence.
Of particular interest is a 2023 trip where Jabbar, who later claimed allegiance to the terror group ISIS, traveled to Egypt for about a month.
“This next most important phase of the investigation is to find out how that radicalization happened and if it happened on that trip,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told ABC News.
Brother of New Orleans attack speaks out
The family of New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar says they don’t understand why the Texas man was driven to violence.
“I understand people want answers, but we’re just as puzzled as the rest of the world,” his half brother, Abdur Rahem Jabbar, told Click2Houston.
“Sham believed his Islamic faith taught him that partying in places like New Orleans wasn’t righteous,” he added. “But he never gave any red flags leading up to this.”
New Orleans attacker used ‘very rare’ compound in explosives
New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar used a “very rare” chemical compound in explosive devices he placed near the site of his truck massacre, according to officials.
The chemical has never been used in a U.S. attack before, a law enforcement source told NBC News.
Officials are investigating where Jabbar gained the knowledge to use such a compound.
FBI finds potential material for explosives at Houston home
Federal officials searching the Texas home of New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar found a workbench and hazardous materials thought to have been used in making explosive devices, a source told The Associated Press.
The report comes after federal officials disclosed they found bomb-making materials at a New Orleans Airbnb where Jabbar stayed before the New Year’s Day truck attack.
New Orleans attacker’s recordings revealed
New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar left behind a string of inflammatory recordings about his views before he drove a truck through a crowd on New Year’s Day.
“I wanted to record this message for my family,” Jabbar said in one recording, obtained by The New York Times. “I wanted you to know that I joined ISIS earlier this year.”
“I don’t want you to think I spared you willingly,” he added, saying he had previously planned a “celebration” for his family where everyone would “witness the killing of the apostates.”
In another recording, Jabbar, whose family said he grew increasingly religious and conspiratorial, described hip-hop music as a sign of the end times.
“And the voice of Satan spreading among Prophet Muhammad’s followers — peace be upon him — is a sign of the end times,” Jabbar said.
Homeless man killed in New Orleans attack
Another victim of the New Orleans attack has been identified.
Elliot Wilkinson, 40, of Slidell, Louisiana, was among those killed in the truck massacre.
“He recently got out of prison and had problems with mental illness. He could’ve stayed with me, our sister or mother, but he never wanted to be a burden to the family, so he went back to New Orleans,” his brother told CNN.
“To my little brother Elliot Wilkinson, you was loved and you will truly be missed,” Wilkinson’s brother wrote in a Facebook post obtained by WDSU. “I know life was hard for you at times. But I wasn’t expecting to get the phone call this morning you was one of them that got hit in New Orleans in the French Quarter.”
Terror expert warns New Orleans shows we’re living in ‘perfect storm’ of radicalism
Security officials have their work cut out for them stopping terrorist violence in today’s political and social climate, according to Seamus Hughes, a senior researcher and policy associate with the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
“What the FBI and law enforcement in general are dealing with right now is a threat landscape that is both diverse and complicated,” he told NBC News. “That makes things a little harder for law enforcement.”
“We have a level of polarization in the U.S. that’s an important factor,” he added. “The online environment has algorithms that are set up to make you angry. And all that is playing into a perfect storm of factors that are leading to an increase in radicalization.”
The New Orleans attacker was inspired by ISIS. Is the group a threat in the US?
Despite the New Orleans attack, experts don’t see an elevated threat from ISIS — instead, it’s a steady threat that never left, Richard Hall writes.
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