FBI: New Orleans terrorist researched Bourbon Street balconies, Germany car attack

The FBI says terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar recorded himself in a mirror wearing Meta glasses during a trip to New Orleans in October 2024. Investigators said it was the first of two trips he made to the city before he sped down Bourbon Street in a pickup truck early Jan. 1, 2025, killing 14 people and injured 37 others. (Image from FBI-provided video)

NEW ORLEANS – The man who drove a rented pickup truck into a Bourbon Street crowd in the early hours of New Year’s Day looked into how to access balconies along the corridor, according to an update Tuesday from the FBI.

The agency has also revised the number of people injured in terrorist Shadsud-Din Jabbar’s attack, increasing the number to from 37 to 57, along with 14 people killed. Police fatally shot Jabbar, a 42-year-old IT worker and Army veteran from Texas, after he crashed his truck after travelling three blocks. 

The FBI reported two Bourbon Street businesses sustained damages in the attack, and 63 people have been identified as witnesses.

Through examining Jabbar’s online searches, the FBI said he also sought information on recent shootings in New Orleans. In the hours before he sped down Bourbon Street, he also looked into information about the vehicle used in a Dec. 22 terror attack in Germany that killed five people and hurt 200, investigators said.

The FBI has also learned more about Jabbar’s religious background. He became a more devout Muslim in 2022 and began isolating himself around that time. Starting last spring, he adopted extremist views, according to agents. 

Jabbar placed an Islamic State flag on a pole attached to the trailer hitch of the pickup he used on Bourbon Street, though the FBI has yet to establish firm links between him and the jihadist group. 

Investigators have also determined Jabbar took a train Nov. 10 from Houston to New Orleans and returned to Houston that same night. While in New Orleans, he found an apartment to rent on Orleans Street, one of the cross streets with Bourbon, but days later rescinded a lease application for the property.

The FBI previously released video footage that shows Jabbar in New Orleans on Oct. 31. Jabbar recorded some of it while riding a bike through the French Quarter.

Other travels the FBI has said it’s reviewing are Jabbar’s trips to Egypt and Canada in 2023.

Federal authorities have already connected explosive materials found at Jabbar’s trailer home in Houston with components found in his truck, at a rental home he used in New Orleans and two homemade bombs he placed further down Bourbon Street before his attacks.

A detonating device was also found in the cab of Jabbar’s truck, which the FBI said would have set off the bombs.