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Federal officials have released new details about the short-term rental fire that Bourbon Street terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar lit shortly before killed 14 people at a New Year’s Day celebration in New Orleans.
In a statement issued Sunday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said its National Response Team completed its investigation of the Mandeville Street residence that Jabbar rented. They determined that Jabbar started a fire in the house around 12:15 a.m., approximately four hours before the attack on the French Quarter.
“Jabbar set the 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 an enclosed area of the hallway that leads to other rooms in the residence.”
The attacker also placed accelerants in other rooms, which the ATF said were intended to “destroy evidence of his crimes.” But the agency noted that the fire eventually extinguished itself.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIMS OF THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN NEW ORLEANS
Federal officials have released new details about evidence recovered from Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s short-term rental, which he rented shortly before the Bourbon Street attack. (Fox News Digital)
“We can confirm that the fire continued to grow when the Nest thermostat switched from heating mode to cooling mode while the temperature continued to rise in the residence,” the ATF said.
“Ultimately, the fire was extinguished because it ran out of oxygen and fuel in this enclosed portion of the residence and never connected with the accelerants placed in the other rooms.”
Around 5:18 am, an hour after the Bourbon Street Attack and after Jabbar’s death, a neighbor alerted 911 to the smell of smoke near the residence.
“New Orleans firefighters responded and extinguished the smoldering fire and observed evidence at the residence and alerted authorities,” the statement added. “ATF and FBI secured the location at this time.”
The FBI previously said the smoldering fire allowed agents to recover evidence from the rental home, including “precursors to bomb-making material and a privately manufactured device suspected to be a silencer for a rifle.”
In its announcement Sunday, the ATF said it discovered that Jabbar purchased one of the rifles used in the attack on an individual in Texas on Nov. 19. The salesman told the ATF that he did not know Jabbar personally and was unaware of his radical beliefs. .
At the rental home, officers also found evidence of RDX, or cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, which is an explosive. But officials noted that Jabbar made a crucial misstep in selecting explosive material designed to be activated by a detonator, and that using an electric match to activate the explosives was a sign of inexperience.
The FBI released photos of surveillance footage that appear to show Shamsud-Din Jabbar an hour before driving a truck down Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early morning hours of January 1, 2025. (Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP)
“Jabbar used explosive material more suitable for a detonator, but he did not have access to one, so he used an electric match to set off the explosives,” the agency concluded. “Jabbar’s lack of experience and his crude nature in assembling the device is the reason he used the wrong device to set off the explosives.”
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.