FBI investigates potential associates of New Orleans attacker in US and abroad
Share:
Officials say evidence supports theory suspect, 42, carried out deadly attack alone but reveal leads are being pursued. Federal authorities investigating the avowed Islamic State (IS) sympathizer who carried out the New Year’s Day Bourbon Street terror attack in New Orleans said they are still investigating his potential associates elsewhere in the US and abroad.
In a news briefing, officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said they were pursuing leads in Houston, Atlanta and Tampa, Florida. They also revealed that attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar visited New Orleans twice in the months ahead of the attack, and, on one of those trips, rode a bicycle up Bourbon Street wearing smart Meta glasses and also rode around the French Quarter neighborhood – ostensibly, officials said, to prepare for the attack that he carried out, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more.
Speaking to reporters, the FBI’s deputy assistant director of counter-terrorism, Christopher Raia, said: “All investigative details and evidence that we have now still support that Jabbar acted alone here in New Orleans. We have not seen any indications of an accomplice in the United States, but we are still looking into potential associates in the US and outside of our borders.”.
Raia went on to reveal the itineraries of several trips – including his ultimate target – that Jabbar, 42, took prior to the deadly attack. In 2023, Jabbar traveled to Cairo, the Egyptian capital, from 22 June to 3 July, according to Raia. He then flew to Canada on 10 July and returned to the US three days later.
