The gate outside the Houston mobile home of terrorist Shamsud-Bin Jabbar lies knocked down Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. FBI agents entered his property Thursday, a day after he killed 14 people and injured 37 more on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. (Chris Joseph/WVUE-TV Fox 8)
NEW ORLEANS – “Precursor chemicals” for making explosives were found at the home of terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s home in Houston, according to the FBI.
Multiple news reports confirmed agents returned to Jabbar’s mobile home Friday to seek more evidence after first raiding it Thursday. The structure was left unsecured overnight, with reporters and other curious onlookers walking inside.
Harris County, Texas, sheriff’s deputies blocked the road into the neighborhood while the FBI conducted further investigations, and the gate into Jabbar’s property was closed, WVUE-TV Fox 8 reported. A vehicle was also seen being towed away from the home.
According to authorities, Jabbar put homemade bombs inside two rolling ice chests and placed them on Bourbon Street, blocks away from where he would plow through a crowd of people celebrating the New Year. The devices were safely disposed of later Wednesday.
Jabbar’s rampage left 14 people dead and 37 injured. Police killed Jabbar in a shootout after his truck crashed into a large hydraulic lift.
A working detonation device was found inside the cab of the Ford F-150 pickup Jabbar drove, the FBI said in a news release issued late Friday.
More materials for making explosives were found Wednesday at a short-term rental property in the St. Roch neighborhood, 2 miles away from where the terror attack took place. A homemade device suspected of being a silencer for a rifle was also found at the Mandeville Street home, according to the FBI.
The agency said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms determined that Jabbar “strategically placed accelerants throughout the house in his effort to destroy it and other evidence of his crime” before he left for the French Quarter. Similar chemicals were found at his trailer home in Houston.
Memorial site comes together
A collection of wreaths, crosses, flowers and candles has come together on the block of Bourbon Street where the terror attack took place. Police escorted a group of family members of some of the people killed to the site, where some reflected, prayed and wept as camera crews and reporters looked on.
The first of what’s expected to be multiple memorials on Bourbon Street this weekend was scheduled for Friday night.
In the meantime, Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna released the names of 12 of the 14 people who died in the attack. The identity of a British citizen was withheld at the family’s request, and another victim was listed as an unknown Black female.
McKenna said Jabbar’s body has yet to be released to his family at the direction of federal investigators.
This article was first published by the Louisiana Illuminator, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.