Author: Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – The FBI is investigating past visits to Egypt and Canada by a suspect in a New Orleans New Year attack that killed 14 people after a truck plowed into a crowd of revelers, an FBI official told reporters on Sunday.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US Army veteran who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group, was suspected in the attack and the FBI says he acted alone. He was killed in a shootout with police following the rampage, which also injured dozens of people and was labeled an act of terrorism by the FBI.
“We also tracked that Jabbar traveled to Cairo, Egypt from June 22 to July 3, 2023. A few days later, he flew to Ontario, Canada on July 10 and returned to the US on July 13, 2023,” Lyonel Myrthil, special the FBI agent in charge of the New Orleans field office, said at a press briefing.
“Our agents are getting answers about where he went, who he met with and how those trips may or may not be connected to his actions in our city of New Orleans,” he added.
The FBI also said Jabbar made at least two trips to New Orleans in the months before the attacks, one in October and the other in November.
The suspect was staying at a rented house in New Orleans during that time, the FBI said, adding that he recorded video with Meta (NASDAQ: ) glasses while traveling through the French Quarter, the New Orleans neighborhood where the Bourbon Street attack took place.
The New Orleans Coroner’s Office identified all 14 deceased victims, among whom the youngest was 18 and the oldest 63. Most were in their 20s.
