Evidence from the Bourbon Street terrorist rental shows mistakes in bomb-making

Federal officials have released new details about the short-term rental fire that Bourbon Street terrorist Shamsood-Din Jabbar started shortly before he 14 people died at the New Year’s Eve celebration in New Orleans.

In a statement released Sunday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said its National Response Team has completed its investigation into the Mandeville Street residence Jabbar was renting. They determined that Jabbar started the house fire around 12:15 a.m., about four hours before the attack in French quarter.

“Jabbar lit a fire with an open flame (matches) just before leaving,” the ATF explained. “The fire started in the linen closet next to the washer and dryer. This is a closed corridor area that leads to other rooms of the residence.’

The gunman also placed accelerants in other rooms, which the ATF said were to “destroy evidence of his crimes.” But the agency noted that the fire eventually went out on its own.

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Federal officials have released new details about evidence found in the short-term rental Shamsud-Din Jabbar rented shortly before the Bourbon Street attack. (Fox News Digital)

“We can confirm that the fire was still growing when the Nest thermostat switched from heating to cooling as the temperature in the residence continued to rise,” ATF said.

“Eventually, the fire self-extinguished as this closed portion of the residence ran out of oxygen and fuel and did not connect to the accelerators located in the other rooms.”

Around 5:18 am – an hour after Assault on Bourbon Street and after Jabbar’s death – a neighbor called 911 about the smell of smoke near the house.

“The New Orleans Fire Department responded, extinguished the smoldering fire and located evidence at the residence to alert law enforcement,” the statement added. “The ATF and FBI have secured the location at this time.”

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The FBI previously said the smoldering fire allowed agents to retrieve evidence from the rental home, including “precursors for bomb-making material and a privately-made device suspected of being a rifle silencer.”

In its announcement Sunday, the ATF said it discovered that Jabbar bought one of the rifles used in the attack from a man in Texas on Nov. 19. The seller told the ATF that he did not know Jabbar personally and was not aware of his radical beliefs. .

In the rented home, agents also found evidence of RDX, or cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, which is an explosive. But officials said Jabbar made a critical mistake in choosing an explosive intended to be set off by a detonator, and that using an electric match to set off the explosive instead was a sign of inexperience.

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The FBI has released surveillance photos showing Shamsud-Din Jabbar an hour before he drove his truck down Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early evening of January 1, 2025. (Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP)

“Jabbar used an explosive material more suitable for a detonator, but he did not have access to one, so he used an electric match to ignite the explosives,” the agency concluded. “Jabbar’s lack of experience and the crude nature of the device’s assembly are the reasons why he used the wrong device to set off the explosives.”

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.