Newly released images show IEDs New Orleans suspect attempted to detonate

ByJulia Reinstein, Aaron Katersky and Josh Margolin ABCNews logo
Tuesday, January 7, 2025 12:24AM
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Investigators continue to uncover more details about the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans and the suspect's apparent plot to detonate explosives in addition to the deadly truck-ramming incident.

ABC News has obtained never-before-seen images of the IEDs discovered after the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was killed in a shootout with police.

A suspected IED in cooler found on Bourbon Street, New Orleans.
A suspected IED in cooler found on Bourbon Street, New Orleans.
Obtained by ABC News

Jabbar is accused of killing 14 people and injuring dozens more in the attack early New Year's Day on Bourbon Street in the city's bustling French Quarter.

Lyonel Myrthil, special agent in charge of the FBI's New Orleans field office, previously said they had reviewed video showing Jabbar planting two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- concealed in coolers -- on the streets of the French Quarter prior to the rampage.

Myrthil said one of the coolers was "unwittingly" moved about a block away from where it was planted on Bourbon and St. Peter streets to another location in the French Quarter by a person uninvolved in the attack.

One of the coolers containing an IED that exploded, Jan. 1, 2025, in New Orleans.
One of the coolers containing an IED that exploded, Jan. 1, 2025, in New Orleans.
FBI

Images of the devices obtained by ABC News showed one of the IEDs inside a blue ice chest. Authorities said they discovered a steel, galvanized pipe with two end caps surrounded by two dozen rolls of collated nails. There also appeared to be a radio-controlled receiver, according to the photos.

The second IED was found in a round water cooler and made of similar components.

A suspected IED in cooler found on Bourbon Street, New Orleans.
A suspected IED in cooler found on Bourbon Street, New Orleans.
Obtained by ABC News

Inside the truck, authorities said they found jars of flammable liquid.

There is also a photo from the rental property in New Orleans where Jabbar stayed. Its where authorities said they found a large quantity of powdered material along with various pipe pieces, end caps and a radio receiver.

Joshua Jackson, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in New Orleans, previously said the IEDs left in the two coolers failed to go off either because Jabbar was shot to death by police, or because he used the wrong mechanism to detonate the explosives.

Jackson said it appeared Jabbar had planned to detonate the IEDs with an electronic match or a hobby switch, which are both readily available in the U.S., as opposed to a more professional detonation device, which is more difficult to obtain.

"He didn't use the right or correct device to set it off, and that is just indicative of his inexperience and lack of understanding how that material might be set off," Jackson said.

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