The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Wednesday that the terrorist who rammed a truck through a crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 15 people was likely part of a network that planned the mass casualty event and did not act alone.
The terror suspect, Shamsud Din Jabbar, an American-born US military veteran from Texas was dressed in military gear and waving an ISIS flag when he plowed through the crowd mowing down dozens of pedestrians ringing in the New Year.
Several improvised pipe bombs were found in the area of the incident, one in the truck that Jabbar used to ram through the crowd.
The pipe bombs disguised as coolers, were wired to a remote detonator in Jabbar’s truck have been located near Bourbon Street — and a Louisiana State Police intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press revealed that three men and a woman were seen stashing them across the French Quarter.
“Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle. Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter. The FBI’s Special Agent Bomb Technicians are working with our law enforcement partners to determine if any of these devices are viable and they will work to render those devices safe,” an FBI statement said.
FBI Special Agent Alethea Duncan told reporters Wednesday afternoon that the bureau suspects Jabbar was involved with radicalization by terrorist groups or a structured terrorist network.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” Duncan said.
More from The New York Post:
Shamsud Din Jabbar was a US-born military veteran who went from success to a squalid Houston trailer park where sheep roamed his yard.
He served in the Army for more than a decade and deployed to Afghanistan before he carried out his ISIS-inspired attack on Wednesday, according to his service record.
Working as an IT specialist, he was stationed in Afghanistan from February 2009 until January 2010, the service branch said in a summary of military experience.
Jabbar served active duty from March 2007 until January 2015 and was a reservist from January 2015 until July 2020.
He left the service at the rank of staff sergeant, according to the Army.
In a YouTube video he posted in 2020 for his real estate business, a clean-cut Jabbar described himself as a reliable, trustworthy native Texan who spent 10 years in the military, which taught him “the meaning of great service.”
But when he carried out the terror attack — one of the deadliest since 9/11 — Jabbar lived in a squalid trailer park on the outskirts of Houston that is home to mostly Muslim immigrants.
Geese, chickens, and sheep roamed freely in Jabbar’s yard when The Post visited hours after the attack.
…
The neighborhood is also within walking distance of the local mosque, Masjid Bilal — where no one answered the telephone on Wednesday.
Law enforcement sources told The Post that they found videos Jabbar made where he referenced the Quran — Islam’s holy text.
