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The Man Behind the Bourbon Street Attack Used Meta Smart Glasses to Plan and Film the Street
The FBI revealed on Sunday that the man who carried out the attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day visited the city twice in the months prior and used Meta smart glasses to film the street and plan out the attack. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, drove a pickup truck into scores of Bourbon Street revelers just after 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day and then opened fire, killing 14 and injuring at least 35.
According to FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil, Jabbar stayed at a rental home in New Orleans from October 30 to November 3 and recorded video as he bicycled through the French Quarter. He also visited New Orleans on November 10, and investigators are still putting together the details of that trip.
Jabbar was wearing a pair of Meta smart glasses while carrying out the attack, but he did not activate them that day. The glasses were found on him after his death. Myrthil said that Jabbar’s planning was revealed in a news conference on Sunday, in which officials provided a timeline of his movements and released videos of his actions hours before the attack.
The FBI said that Jabbar entered Louisiana at about 2:30 p.m. on December 31 and unloaded his rented Ford F150 truck at an Airbnb at about 10 p.m. He then set fire to the rental home and left in the truck. About 15 minutes after midnight, Jabbar set fire to the rental home and left in the truck. The blaze failed to engulf the home, and the fire department put out the fire just after 5 a.m.
After leaving the rental home, Jabbar placed two improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, on Bourbon Street, and a transmitter to detonate the IEDs was found in his vehicle. Bomb-making materials were also found at the Airbnb and at his home in Houston. He placed one IED in a rolling cooler and a second IED in a bucket cooler and left both on Bourbon Street.
The mass killing has raised questions as to how the city secured Bourbon Street and how a heavy-duty truck was able to drive onto one of the most pedestrian-heavy roads in the US. A New Orleans Police Department spokesperson said that the department has a “comprehensive security plan” in place for the Carnival parade season, which kicks off Monday with two parades in the French Quarter.
The city has been installing new, removable stainless-steel bollards along several blocks, but those were not expected to be ready until the Super Bowl next month. The new barriers are only able to withstand vehicle impacts of 10 mph, according to a Reuters report. The city’s mayor announced a plan to ask a tactical expert to review the city’s security plans to determine whether the bollards are sufficient.