Evidence from the terrorist’s apartment on Bourbon Street reveals errors in bomb-making
Federal officials have released new details about the short-term rental fire that Bourbon Street terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar set shortly before he killed 14 people at the New Year’s Eve celebration in New Orleans.
In a statement released Sunday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said its national response team had completed its investigation of the Mandeville Street residence that Jabbar rented. They determined that Jabbar had set fire to the house around 12:15 a.m., about four hours before the attack in French quarter.
“Jabbar started the fire using an open flame (matches) just before he left,” ATF explained. “The fire started in the laundry closet next to the washer and dryer. This is an enclosed section of the hallway that leads to other rooms in the residence.”
The gunman also placed accelerants in other rooms, which the ATF said were intended to “destroy evidence of his crimes.” But the agency noted that the fire eventually extinguished itself.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIMS OF THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN NEW ORLEANS
Federal officials have released new details about evidence found in Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s short-term rental, which he rented shortly before the Bourbon Street attack. (Fox News Digital)
“We can confirm that the fire continued to grow as the Nest thermostat switched from heating mode to cooling mode as the temperature continued to rise in the residence,” ATF said.
“Eventually the fire self-extinguished because it ran out of oxygen and fuel in this closed part of the residence and never connected with the accelerants placed in the other rooms.”
Around 5:18 am – an hour after Assault on Bourbon Street and after Jabbar died – a neighbor alerted 911 to the smell of smoke near the house.
“New Orleans firefighters responded and extinguished the smoldering fire and observed evidence in the residence and alerted police,” the statement added. “The ATF and FBI have secured the location at this time.”
The FBI previously said the smoldering fire allowed agents to find evidence from the rental home, including “precursors to bomb-making materials and a privately made device suspected to be a rifle silencer.”
In its announcement Sunday, the ATF said it discovered Jabbar had purchased one of the guns used in the attack from a person in Texas on Nov. 19. The seller told ATF that he did not know Jabbar personally and was not aware of his radical beliefs.
At the rental home, agents also found evidence of RDX, or cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, which is an explosive. But officials noted that Jabbar made a key misstep by choosing an explosive material designed to be activated by a detonator, and that using an electric match to set off the explosives instead was a sign of inexperience.
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The FBI has released surveillance photos that apparently show Shamsud-Din Jabbar an hour before he drove a truck down Bourbon Street in New Orleans early on January 1, 2025. (Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP)
“Jabbar used an explosive material more suitable for a detonator, but did not have access to one, so he used an electric match to activate the explosives,” the agency concluded. “Jabbar’s lack of experience and the crude nature of assembling the device is why he used the wrong device to activate the explosives.”
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
