Investigators have revealed that the New Orleans truck attacker was discovered to have a transmitter that they believe was intended to detonate bombs placed at two other locations within the French Quarter. Fortunately, law enforcement officers were able to neutralize the attacker before he could activate the device.
The individual responsible for the attack was identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US-born Army veteran. Jabbar tragically took the lives of 14 individuals and left 35 others injured in the early hours of New Year’s morning as he drove his truck around a police barricade on Bourbon Street, proceeding to drive down the sidewalk. After crashing his truck, he exited the vehicle and began firing at police officers, prompting them to respond by fatally shooting him.
According to the FBI, Jabbar had planted his first homemade bomb in a cooler at the intersection of Bourbon Street and St. Peters Street shortly before 2 a.m. on Wednesday, which was approximately an hour and 15 minutes before he carried out the truck attack, as reported by the Times-Picayune. Investigators mentioned that individuals unaware of the contents of the cooler inadvertently moved it a block away to Orleans Street.
Jabbar set the second bomb, in a “bucket-style cooler,” at Bourbon and Toulouse Streets shortly before 2:30 a.m., the FBI said.
Local police initially said they believed he had help setting those bombs, but the FBI said after viewing surveillance footage that the people seen were curious onlookers unconnected with the killer.
Investigators said there were also homemade bombs in the truck along with the transmitter.
“We believe that the transmitter would have functioned and would have worked were it not for the actions of those New Orleans police officers,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil told reporters.
The New Orleans police officers responded quickly after the crash to kill Jabbar, who was wearing a ballistics vest and headgear.
