New Orleans attack latest: Terror suspect used bomb materials never seen in US

Shamsud-Din Jabbar created homemade explosives with a rare compound, according to NBC News.

This compound had never been seen before in a U.S. or European incident, the outlet reported.

Jabbar planned to detonate two explosives that he had placed on Bourbon Street, FBI and ATF officials said in a joint statement Friday.

He had intended to use a transmitter, which was found in his vehicle, to detonate the bombs but ultimately did not, officials said.

New Orleans officials have reopened Bourbon Street, now heavily guarded with military police, fresh barricades and 14 roses to mark the 14 people who were killed in what law enforcement officials have labeled an act of terror.

Authorities removed the remaining bodies and swept blood from the sidewalks and streets beginning at 2 a.m. Thursday. Deliveries to the street’s bars and restaurants resumed a few hours later.

Several blocks of Bourbon and surrounding streets had been blocked off, businesses were closed and residents living in the footprint of an active crime scene were navigating police tape and barricades after a driver plowed a pickup truck into a crowd shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Thousands of workers — still checking on the safety of friends and colleagues — are now returning to the bars, restaurants, music venues, hotels, gift shops and other businesses that keep the city’s tourism economy running.

One French Quarter worker told The Independent she was dreading returning to work.

“My anxiety is at an all-time high,” she said.

A New Year’s celebration in New Orleans was interrupted when a terrorist slammed into a crowd of revelers, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more.

The attack occurred around 3:15 a.m. on Bourbon Street when a suspect rammed into a crowd. More than 30 others were injured in the attack and have been transported to hospitals. Police warn the death toll could change as more information is received.

The FBI is investigating the incident “as an act of terrorism” and say it was carried out by 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar. Authorities say he had an ISIS flag on his truck as he plowed into the crowd, according to reports. Details about his life and background are starting to be revealed as investigators search for information about what led to the attack.

Kelly Rissman has the story.

Alexis Scott-Windham, 23, of Mobile, Alabama, was in the French Quarter the evening before the attack to celebrate New Year’s Eve with friends.

She was one of scores of people that attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, hit with a rented truck in the early hours of New Year’s Day, a massacre which ultimately killed 14 people.

Scott-Windham, after the truck clipped her, was then hit in the foot during gunfire between Jabbar and police that followed the vehicle attack

More details in our full story.

Authorities removed the remaining bodies and swept blood from the sidewalks and streets beginning at 2 a.m. Thursday. Deliveries to the street’s bars and restaurants resumed a few hours later.

Several blocks of Bourbon and surrounding streets had been blocked off, businesses were closed and residents living in the footprint of an active crime scene were navigating police tape and barricades after a driver plowed a pickup truck into a crowd shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Thousands of workers — still checking on the safety of friends and colleagues — are now returning to the bars, restaurants, music venues, hotels, gift shops and other businesses that keep the city’s tourism economy running.

One French Quarter worker told The Independent she was dreading returning to work.

“My anxiety is at an all-time high,” she said. “Thankfully I have health insurance through my spouse, but a lot of hospitality workers are uninsured and underpaid. Having to risk your life for a job that most likely doesn’t care about you is awful. Praying for us all.”

Christopher Raia, the FBI’s deputy assistant director of its counter terrorism division, said at a press conference Thursday that they are reviewing disturbing videos of the suspect, 42-year-old Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, where he discussed plans to kill his family in recordings made before the attack.

New Year’s celebrations in the city ended in tragedy when the suspected terrorist slammed into a crowd of revelers, killing at least 14 innocent people and injuring more than 30 others. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene after a standoff with authorities.

Raia shared a timeline of the suspect’s movements before carrying out the attack, detailing how he planted two IED devices in coolers in the bustling area before he rammed into the crowd in a pickup truck on Bourbon Street at around 3:15 a.m.

Kelly Rissman and Rhian Lubin report.

A former Princeton football star. An aspiring nurse. A college freshman. A cherished son. A devoted mom.

The FBI identified the suspect — who was killed after engaging in a shootout with police officers — as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S.-born citizen from Texas.

Survivors of Wednesday’s truck attack in New Orleans are still processing what they saw.

“It was hard to tell what was fireworks and what might have been gunshots,” Noah Preston, a 25-year-old student from North Carolina, told The Wall Street Journal of his experience witnessing the attack. “We had no idea what was going on.”

New Orleans attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who rammed a truck through a crowd celebrating the new year on Bourbon Street, had another part to his plan which was never completed.

The Texas man intended to use a transmitter, later found in the wreckage of his vehicle, to trigger two improvised explosive devices nearby, investigators announced.

The devices never went off, though authorities are uncertain whether this was due to a decision from Jabbar, a malfunction, or some other reason.