New Orleans Terrorist Visited City Twice Before Attack, Filmed Bourbon Street With Meta Glasses

The 42-year-old man behind the terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day visited the city at least twice in recent months and used Meta smart glasses to film Bourbon Street — where he drove a truck into a crowd of pedestrians, killing 14 people.

FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil said on Sunday that Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Houston stayed at a rental home for a few days beginning on October 30 and then revisited the city on November 10, CNN reported. During his trip to New Orleans in late October, Jabbar rode a bike on Bourbon Street and used Meta smart glasses to record and plan his attack, according to the FBI.

On Sunday, the FBI also revealed new footage of the terrorist placing two IEDs on Bourbon Steet just over an hour before his attack. Jabbar hid the IEDs in coolers. One of the coolers was dragged a block by “someone on Bourbon Street, who we have no reason to believe was involved,” according to Myrthil. The FBI reiterated that it believes Jabbar acted alone.

WATCH: FBI releases video of NOLA terrorist wearing Meta glasses and placing coolers with IEDs throughout the French Quarter pic.twitter.com/UQFm3Aox2R

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After driving his rented Ford pickup truck through Bourbon Street, Jabbar got into a shootout with police officers and was killed. The terrorist, who pledged allegiance to ISIS, was wearing the Meta smart glasses when he died, and officers found a transmitter to detonate the IEDs in the truck. Jabbar reportedly did not activate the smart glasses during his attack. Meta smart glasses can record videos, make calls, send texts, and answer questions through Meta AI. The smart glasses typically cost between $300 and $400.

Before carrying out his attack, Jabbar set fire to his rental home, a move authorities believe was meant to “hide evidence of his crimes” and potentially distract first responders before he drove through the crowd gathered on Bourbon Street. The FBI is looking into multiple trips Jabbar took in recent years, including a trip to Cairo, Egypt, from June 22 to July 3, 2023, and a trip to Ontario, Canada, from July 10 to July 13, 2023.

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“Our agents are getting answers as to where he went, who he met with, and how those trips may or may not tie into his actions here in our city of New Orleans,” Myrthil said.

Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran, recently became radicalized. In a video he recorded in the rented pickup truck on his way to carry out the attack, Jabbar said, “I wanted to record this message for my family. I wanted you to know that I joined ISIS earlier this year,” according to The New York Times. In the video, Jabbar added that he considered killing his family members so they could “witness the killing of the apostates.”