Journey to the Pyramids: Unraveling the Mystery Behind the Suspect’s Egyptian Escape

The individual implicated in the truck attack that resulted in 14 fatalities and many injuries in New Orleans on New Year’s Day had journeyed to Egypt in 2023 for approximately a month, as stated by his half-brother to ABC News.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran and citizen born in the U.S. from Texas, traveled to Egypt by himself and informed his relatives he was going “because it was affordable and beautiful,” according to his half-brother, 24-year-old Abdur Jabbar.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s international travel is a focus of the ongoing inquiry, law enforcement authorities conveyed to ABC News.

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Investigators are endeavoring to ascertain what he engaged in during his stay in Egypt, the reasons for his travel, and who he interacted with while there, several sources reported. A key aspect of this inquiry is whether he had undergone radicalization prior to traveling or if the journey marked the beginning of his radicalization process.

“The next most significant phase of the inquiry is to determine how that radicalization transpired and if it occurred during that trip,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams shared with ABC News.

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In the early hours of New Year’s Day, Shamsud-Din Jabbar maneuvered a pickup truck onto a sidewalk, circumventing a parked police vehicle used as a barricade to crash into pedestrians over a three-block distance on Bourbon Street, according to police. He then exited the damaged truck with an assault rifle and opened fire on law enforcement officers, as reported by authorities. The officers returned fire, resulting in his death.

Officials indicated that the first 24 hours following the ramming incident were dedicated to an urgent effort to establish whether there were further suspects at large or if Shamsud-Din Jabbar had accomplices. Since Thursday, investigators have been concentrating on reconstructing his path to radicalization and the circumstances that preceded his choice to attack Bourbon Street.

Jabbar uploaded multiple videos online just hours before the assault, expressing “his allegiance to ISIS” and noting that he had joined ISIS prior to this summer, according to the FBI.

Two U.S. representatives informed ABC on Friday that, although it is still quite early in the inquiry, there exists evidence at this point indicating that Jabbar had been in touch with a direct ISIS agent.

The representatives pointed out that, two days following the assault, there has been no assertion of accountability from ISIS.

Nevertheless, investigators are still analyzing his three smartphones and two laptops while scrutinizing his travel records.

In another update on Friday, officials disclosed that Jabbar ignited a small blaze in the corridor of the property he rented on Mandeville Street in New Orleans before the assault, utilizing “carefully positioned accelerants throughout the residence in his attempt to obliterate it and other traces of his offense,” according to the joint update from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

However, after Jabbar vacated the premises, the fire extinguished itself before spreading to additional rooms. When the New Orleans Fire Department arrived, the flames were still smoldering, leading investigators to recover evidence, including precursors for explosive materials and an improvised device believed to be a silencer for a firearm.

Concerning the explosive objects, the FBI stated it suspects that during the Bourbon Street incident, Jabbar planned to use a transmitter that was later discovered in the vehicle to detonate the devices.

Authorities indicated that the transmitter, along with two firearms linked to Jabbar, was being conveyed to the FBI Laboratory for further analysis.

Prior to the fatal collision, surveillance footage captured Jabbar placing two improvised explosive devices in coolers within the Bourbon Street vicinity, according to investigators. He had a remote detonator in the vehicle to trigger the two devices, but both were rendered safe, said officials.

Within one of the coolers, investigators uncovered a device made up of a steel pipe, nails, and a relatively uncommon explosive chemical, a senior law enforcement official informed ABC News on Friday. The remote detonation feature apparently malfunctioned, the official noted.

NBC News was the first to report on the unusual chemical.

A search of Jabbar’s residence in Houston also unearthed materials for bomb construction, sources confirmed to ABC News on Thursday. The discovered items were also referred to as “precursor chemicals” by agents in the field, according to sources.

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The FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a collective intelligence bulletin cautioning the nation’s 18,000 law enforcement agencies regarding possible imitators, ABC News has learned. This bulletin was disseminated out of an excess of prudence to alert law enforcement nationwide to remain vigilant for any actions signaling the utilization of vehicles as a means to cause mass casualties, sources informed ABC News.

“We recommend federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government and law enforcement officials, along with private sector security stakeholders, to be alert to potential copycat or retaliatory assaults motivated by this incident and other recent, deadly vehicle-ramming occurrences globally,” the bulletin stated.

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The bulletin mentioned that ISIS has been advocating the use of vehicles as a weapon of terror since approximately 2014.

In recent months, ISIS has intensified appeals for its adherents to carry out low-tech, mass casualty ramming assaults, sources told ABC News, particularly following the commencement of the latest Israel-Hamas conflict in October 2023.

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The bulletin asserted that Shamsud-Din Jabbar was motivated by ISIS but that there is no evidence of any accomplices. A senior law enforcement official informed ABC News that, to date, there have been no indications of ISIS asserting responsibility for the New Orleans incident.

“Law enforcement must recognize that in numerous instances, assailants have executed vehicle-ramming assaults utilizing secondary arms and might persist with the assault employing bladed weapons, firearms, or IEDs after the vehicle has halted,” the advisory stated. The method could be “appealing” for international terrorist groups and other entities due to its minimal complexity barrier, the alert mentioned.

An intelligence report from the New York Police Department acquired by ABC News revealed that ISIS backers did commemorate the assault online. Extremist factions, the report noted, “continue to perceive densely populated pathways, parades, mass gatherings, and other outdoor events along streets, particularly during holidays, as susceptible opportunities.”

“This persistent danger highlights the importance of pre-staged blocker vehicles and the utilization of other efficiently designed countermeasures including heavy blockades, barriers, and bollards,” it elaborated.

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Law enforcement cleared and reopened Bourbon Street on Thursday while the inquiry was ongoing. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell expressed that officials had the “assurance” to reopen the vicinity to the public prior to the Sugar Bowl on Thursday afternoon, which was originally slated for Wednesday but postponed following the incident.

“I want to provide reassurance to the public that the city of New Orleans is not only prepared for game day today, but we are also ready to continue hosting large-scale events in our city,” she stated. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families of the victims,” Cantrell emphasized.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to New Orleans on Monday to connect with the families and members of the community, according to the White House. Biden stated on Friday that he has communicated with the families of the victims.

There appears to be no evident direct link between the New Orleans incident and Wednesday’s Tesla Cybertruck explosion occurring outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, which is also under scrutiny as a potential act of terrorism, the FBI reported on Thursday.

New Orleans attack: Suspect’s travel to Egypt under scrutiny first appeared on abcnews.go.com