The operator who caused the deaths of 14 individuals in an assault inspired by ISIS by driving into a populated New Orleans street on New Year’s Day had intended to employ a transmitter to deflagrate two explosive devices he had positioned nearby, officials have stated.
The FBI and ATF indicated in a joint declaration on Friday that the explosives were positioned on Bourbon Street, which Shamsud-Din Jabbar subsequently transformed into a scene of devastation.
Neither of the explosive devices were deflagrated, and it remains unclear whether the operational failure was attributable to a malfunction, absence of initiation, or another factor. The transmitter and two firearms were retrieved from Jabbar’s truck, the declaration indicated, and are being transported to an FBI laboratory for examination.
National investigators scrutinizing the assault state that Jabbar employed a highly uncommon explosive compound in the two devices, according to two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter, who spoke to NBC News.
Officials are investigating the means by which Jabbar acquired the knowledge to fabricate this improvised explosive, the officials stated.
Those officials state that the explosive has not previously been employed in a U.S. terror assault or incident, nor in any European terror assault. A central inquiry for investigators pertains to how Jabbar ascertained information regarding the compound and his method of producing it.
The destructive event transpired when Jabbar, age 42, drove onto a pedestrian walkway utilizing a pick-up truck, circumventing a law enforcement vehicle that had been situated to impede vehicles from pedestrians celebrating on the populated street.
Law enforcement eliminated Jabbar, a U.S. citizen born in Texas and an Army veteran, subsequent to the assault.
Jabbar had also ignited a short-term rental residence on Mandeville Street in New Orleans, where components for constructing explosive devices were discovered, Friday's joint declaration appended, “in his endeavor to eradicate it and supplementary evidence of his transgression.”
The New Orleans Fire Department responded to the conflagration at approximately 5:18 a.m., subsequent to Jabbar executing the assault on Bourbon Street, but the fire had "self-terminated" prior to propagating to adjacent areas, permitting the "retrieval of evidentiary matter, including antecedents for bomb making material and an individually fabricated apparatus believed to be a sound suppressor for a firearm,” the declaration stated.
The agencies indicated in the declaration that it was ascertained that Jabbar was the sole individual capable of initiating the conflagration.
The FBI has stated that the investigation persists in progress and it has not altered its position that Jabbar operated autonomously.
A period of mourning for the victims of the assault is scheduled to commence on Monday, when President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will journey to New Orleans.