Written by Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – The FBI is investigating previous visits to Egypt and Canada by the suspect in the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people after he was struck by a truck, an FBI official told reporters on Sunday. A crowd of revelers.
Shams al-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old US Army veteran who pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State, was the suspect in the attack and the FBI says he acted alone. He was killed in a shootout with police after the attack, which also injured dozens of people and was described by the FBI as an act of terrorism.
“We also tracked that Jabbar traveled to Cairo, Egypt, from June 22 through July 3, 2023. A few days later he traveled to Ontario, Canada, on July 10 and returned to the United States on July 13, 2023,” Lionel Merthel said. FBI Special Agent in Charge of the New Orleans Field Office said at a news conference.
“Our agents are getting answers about where he went, who he met, 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 that Jabbar made at least two trips to New Orleans in the months before the attack, one in October and another in November.
The suspect stayed at a rented home in New Orleans during that period, the FBI said, adding that he recorded videos with Meta (NASDAQ::) glasses as he traveled through the French Quarter, the neighborhood in New Orleans where the attack occurred on Bourbon Street.
The New Orleans Coroner's Office identified all 14 deceased victims, the youngest as 18 and the oldest as 63. Most of them were in their twenties.
