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Bomb-making materials were found at a short-term rental house, and the authorities said they had recovered a transmitter intended to set off explosives on the city’s famous Bourbon Street.
Jan. 3, 2025, 7:42 p.m. ET
The man who plowed a pickup truck down a crowded New Orleans street early on New Year’s Day, killing 14 people, had planned to use a transmitter to detonate two explosives he had placed near the site of the attack, the F.B.I. said on Friday.
The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who the authorities have said was inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, had placed both of the explosive devices on Bourbon Street, the famous stretch of bars and revelry that Mr. Jabbar turned into a scene of devastation on Wednesday morning.
Neither of the devices went off, and the transmitter and two guns were recovered from the truck driven by Mr. Jabbar, who was killed by the police moments after his attack.
Mr. Jabbar, 42, had rented the truck and had driven it from Houston to New Orleans earlier on New Year’s Eve. The authorities also disclosed on Friday that he had set fire to a short-term rental house where he had apparently spent time about a 15-minute drive from the site of the attack.
The F.B.I. said investigators had found bomb-making materials at the house, on Mandeville Street. The agency said in a statement that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had determined that Mr. Jabbar was the only person who could have set the fire and that he had used accelerants “in his effort to destroy it and other evidence of his crime.” The authorities also recovered a homemade device that they believe was to be used as a suppressor for a rifle.
Michael Adasko, 45, who lives next door to the rental property, said in an interview that his security camera had captured a man who looked like Mr. Jabbar “unloading materials” at 10:02 p.m. on New Year’s Eve from a truck like the white Ford F-150 that was used in the attack.
