New Orleans attack: Terror suspect used bomb materials never seen in US as police probe how he got them
Police investigated 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 was 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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Heartbreaking comparison of New Orleans before and after terror attack
FBI says it has received almost 1,000 tips in 48 hours since New Orleans attack
The FBI says it has received almost 1,000 tips in 48 hours, as it continues to investigate the tragic incident in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, which left 14 people dead and dozens wounded.
“Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel from across the country continue to work diligently to further this investigation and evaluate evidence, interview victims and witnesses, and analyze tips related to the New Orleans Bourbon Street attack,” the bureau said in a statement on Friday.
“Two days into the investigation, the FBI has received almost 1,000 tips, and leads have been sent to FBI Field Offices across the country for investigation.”
Recap: Who were the victims of the New Orleans terror attack
The identities of the 14 innocent victims of the New Orleans terror attack on New Year’s Day are still emerging, as investigators continue to probe the background of attacker as Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
Among the dead were a former Princeton football star, an aspiring nurse, a college freshman, and a devoted mom.
Here is a recap of those who have been identified so far:
Ex-Princeton football star and aspiring nurse: Victims of New Orleans terror attack
Here’s everything we know about the victims of the horrific tragedy that left 14 dead on Bourbon Street
King ‘deeply saddened’ after stepson of William and Harry’s nanny killed in New Orleans attack
King Charles is deeply saddened after a British man died in a vehicle attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, according to Buckingham Palace sources.
The king has been in touch with the family of Edward Pettifer, 31, who was killed by “blunt force injuries” when a pickup truck rammed into a crowd of New Year’s Eve revellers in Bourbon Street, Louisiana, killing at least 14 and injuring at least 35.
Mr Pettifer, who was named by Metropolitan Police on Saturday morning, is believed to be the stepson of Prince William and Prince Harry’s former nanny, Alexandra Pettifer, who was known as Tiggy.
The 31-year-old’s family described him as a “wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend to so many”.
Alex Croft reports.
King ‘deeply saddened’ after stepson of children’s nanny killed in New Orleans attack
31-year-old Briton Edward Pettifer died in the New Orleans attack on New Year’s Day
‘This was the event that I was afraid of'
After the deadly New Olreans attack, local officials are trying to pinpoint whether any security gaps contributed to the tragedy on Bourbon Street.
Attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar evaded multiple defenses around the busy pedestrian area.
He managed to drive around a police SUV, over a mechanical traffic-stopping wedge that was not deployed, and past the location where a bollard system previously stood but was removed for repairs.
The bollards went up as part of a $40 million security upgrade in the city after a deadly 2016 terror attack in Nice, France.
“Our plan was for this specific event, this was the event that I was afraid of,” former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu told NOLA.com. “I thought, ‘S***, that’s going to happen on Bourbon Street.’”
Alex Woodward has more on the city’s preparations.
Jabbar had bomb-making materials in burned Airbnb
New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar had bomb-making materials and a potential homemade rifle silencer in an Airbnb property in New Orleans, according to federal officials.
Jabbar set the short-term rental on fire to conceal his activities, according to the ATF, using “trategically placed accelerants throughout the house in his effort to destroy it and other evidence of his crime.”
However, the fire went out, and the ATF found “pre-cursors for bomb-making material and a privately made device suspected of being a silencer for a rifle,” the agency said in a statement.
The FBI found similar materials at Jabbar’s home in Houston, Texas.
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.
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.”
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.
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 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.
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