The FBI recovered video surveillance footage showing New Orleans attack suspect Shamsud Din-Jabbar, 42, placing two coolers containing improvised explosive devices on New Orleans' Bourbon Street before he drove into a crowd of revelers, killing at least 14, on New Year's Eve.
"With multiple reports of other devices, those reports turned out to be misinformation or not actual functioning devices," Christopher Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, said in a press conference Thursday.
The devices in the coolers, he added, "are the only two devices that we've been able to recover that were functional. Both devices were rendered safe on scene."
The FBI wants to speak with anyone who was in the French Quarter on New Year's Eve, including people spotted near the coolers.
"Many people stopped and looked at the cooler and then continued on their way," Raia said. "Let's be clear again, we do not believe at this point these people are involved in this incident in any way. We want to speak to them as witnesses and want to know what they saw and when."
He added that the FBI is "looking at everything in [Jabbar's] life."
"Whether you know Jabbar personally, worked with him, served in the military, or saw him in New Orleans or Texas, we need to talk to you," he said. "You may not think you have relevant information but what you know could tie into one of our investigative leads."
The FBI is still combing through more than 400 tips from the public about the premeditated attack, said Raia.
Investigators believe Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran, picked up the rented truck that was used in the New Orleans attack in Houston on Dec. 30, and drove to New Orleans on New Year's Eve.
"He posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS," said Raia. "There were five videos posted on his Facebook account that are time stamped beginning at 1:29 a.m. and the last at 3:02 a.m."
In his first video, Raia said, Jabbar said he was first thinking about killing his family, and he stated that "he had joined ISIS before this summer."
Jabbar also provided a last will and testament, Raia said.
Meanwhile, the FBI has released the crime scene on Bourbon Street to local authorities but continues to search an Airbnb home that Jabbar had reportedly rented.
"We do not believe the public is in any danger around any of these locations," he said.
The FBI is also examining three phones linked to Jabbar to determine if there are further leads, as well as two laptops that were recovered at the rental property.
"Evidence technicians will also be going over the F-150 truck Jabbar was driving," he said. "As you know, we recovered an ISIS flag from the back of the vehicle. Jabbar declared his support for the terrorist group on social media, as I stated before, as he made his way to New Orleans."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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