The New Orleans attacker filmed his visits to the city weeks earlier and wore Meta smart glasses during the attack

The New Orleans terrorist attacker visited the Louisiana city twice in the weeks leading up to the attack and recorded video of the area using Meta smart glasses, the report revealed Sunday. FBI.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, stayed in a rental house in New Orleans in late October and again in November, just weeks before his attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people. He wore smart glasses to record video as he biked through the French Quarter during that trip, FBI Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil said Sunday.

“Meta glasses look like regular glasses, but they allow a user to record videos and photos hands-free,” Myrthil said. “They also allow the user to potentially broadcast their video live.”

Jabbar wore the glasses during his New Year’s Eve attack, but they were not activated for a live broadcast, according to Myrthil. There was no indication he recorded the attack, although the glasses were found on Jabbar.

A compilation of clips was posted online by the FBI, which includes Jabbar testing the glasses in a mirror and surveillance clips of him in the area before the truck attack. The images of passers-by were blurred by the FBI.

The 42-year-old was killed in an exchange of fire with police after crossing the busy street in a rental truck in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Investigators also found that he had placed two pipe bombs in the area before the attack, but neither exploded.

Authorities also believe Jabbar set fire to a short-term rental home on Mandeville Street in New Orleans, where bomb-making materials were found.

The video shows Jabbar placing an improvised explosive device in a cooler at Bourbon and St. Peter streets at 1:53 a.m., which was later moved by unidentified individuals.

“From what we have observed so far – what we have gathered during our investigation – is that these were unwitting individuals who were moving the cooler from one location to another without knowing what was in it,” Myrthil said.

Jabbar placed another explosive about 30 minutes later in another “bucket-type cooler.”

Two firearms were also found during the investigation, a semi-automatic pistol and a rifle. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives discovered that the .308 caliber rifle was purchased at a private sale in Arlington, Texas, on November 19.

Jabbar, a Texas-born U.S. citizen and Army veteran, said in videos posted online that he “joined ISIS earlier this year.” He acted alone in the New Year’s Eve attack, the FBI said, and did not appear to have any U.S.-based accomplices.

Myrthil told reporters Sunday that the FBI was still investigating many of Jabbar’s associates, both domestically and abroad. A topic of further investigation involves a trip Jabbar took to Cairo in 2023 and another trip to Canada about a week after his return.

“Our agents are getting answers about where he went, who he met and how those trips may or may not be related to his actions here in our city of New Orleans,” Myrthil said.