Investigators Uncover Potential Link Between New Orleans Attack Suspect And A Middle Eastern Country

Federal law enforcement officers are currently investigating whether a trip to the Middle East played a role in the New Orleans terrorist attack suspect’s path to radicalization.

Shamsud Din Jabbar, 42, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on social media before intentionally running down New Years Day celebrants in the famed New Orleans French Quarter this past Thursday. Din Jabbar — whose truck contained explosive devices and an ISIS flag — was neutralized in a shootout with police after killing 14 people.

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Din Jabbar is believed to have placed additional explosive devices around the French Quarter, which were defused by bomb squads. Investigators currently believe the attacker worked alone after initially searching for additional persons of interest, who were later determined to have simply been bystanders.

As the investigation into Din Jabbar’s radicalization continues, federal investigators are currently looking at a recent trip he took to Egypt. According to Din Jabbar’s half-brother, Abdul, the deceased attacker spent a month in the Arab nation in 2023. Din Jabbar — a Texas native and military veteran — told his brother that he was going to Egypt “because it was cheap and beautiful,” Abdul Jabar told ABC News.

Louisiana state and federal authorities are currently working to determine what he did during the trip, why he went and who he interacted with while there, multiple sources told the outlet. Central to the investigation is whether Din Jabbar was radicalized before traveling or if the trip marked the start of his extremist turn.

“This next most important phase of the investigation is to find out how that radicalization happened and if it happened on that trip,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told ABC News.

Din Jabbar posted several videos online in the hours before the attack in which he “proclaimed his support for ISIS” and claimed that he had joined the international terrorist organization earlier this year. Two U.S. officials announced Friday that while the investigation is still in its early stages, there is evidence that the deceased attacker was in contact with at least one ISIS member.

Authorities are continuing to work through his three phones and two laptops, in addition to a thorough review of his travel history as the probe continues.

“So all his electronics are going to come into play there. They’re going to start looking at him and even if he deleted things on his computer, he really didn’t delete things on his computer. So they’re going to keep going back into that and looking and start understanding when and where trying to match up when he went to Egypt, what was some of the things that he was doing when he got back, talking to people who knew him,” retired FBI Special Agent Rob D’Amico told Fox News.

“And also, some of the pictures, you could tell he started taking on a more extremist look. And we can go back and look at pictures and see when that started, maybe. So all that’s going to come into play. And then they’re going to just try to match it up,” the former FBI agent continued.

Federal investigators will also be heading to Egypt, D’Amico added, in order to collaborate with local law enforcement and interview potential contacts the attacker made while overseas. “They may have been doing surveillance on some of their people that were ISIS members. Maybe he turned up in a photo under surveillance. Maybe he turned up in a photo under surveillance. They’ll check everything to make sure that they can pin down when that may have happened,” he added.

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