Investigators today said the man who killed 14 people New Year's morning on Bourbon Street had visited New Orleans in the months ahead of the terror attack.
The FBI held a news conference this morning to "focus on filling in" some of the details for the public about Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
Federal officials shared information about how "he plotted this hideous attack."
FBI Houston recovered evidence at his Texas home along with what was found at the scene of the attack, in an Air BnB he rented in New Orleans, and in other locations.
"Jabbar traveled to Cairo, Egypt from June 22nd until July 3rd of 2023," FBI Special Agent in Charge in New Orleans Lyonel Myrthil announced.
He also traveled to Canada.
Feds want to know who he talked to and what he did while out of the country.
Twice before the New Year's Day attack, Jabbar came to New Orleans.
"Once in October and the other... in November of 2024."
Myrthil said Jabbar got a short-term rental.
He recorded videos with Meta Glasses as he rode a bicycle around the city and the French Quarter.
The FBI says they still have hundreds of interviews to conduct in Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Canada, and overseas to get further of information.
They ask anyone who may have seen or interacted with Jabbar during his trips to New Orleans to call the FBI.
"Jabbar is seen on December 31st at multiple gun stores he visited in Texas."
Myrthil says Jabbar got into Louisiana around 2:30pm on New Year's Eve.
He was seen in a rented vehicle in Gonzales, Louisiana that evening and drove to the STR on Mandeville Street in New Orleans.
"At 12:41am on New Year's morning, Jabbar parked the truck and walked to Royal and Governor Nichols Street."
The FBI says Jabbar placed the first bomb in a cooler at Bourbon and St. Peters Street at 1:53am.
"Someone on Bourbon Street, who we have no reason to believe was involved, dragged the cooler a block to Bourbon and Orleans, where our teams found it after the attack."
Myrthil says Jabbar set the second cooler with an IED at 2:20am on Bourbon and Toulouse Streets.
At 3:15 am, Jabbar drove around a police car onto the sidewalk at Canal Street and Bourbon and drove at a high rate of speed down Bourbon, hitting some 45 people. Then he hit a construction lift, got out, and started shooting. His bullets hit two police officers. Cops fired back, shooting and killing Jabbar.
He was never able to detonate the remote-controlled bombs.