According to law enforcement officials on Tuesday, a common explosives compound was found in a Texas storage locker connected to the U.S. Army veteran who crashed into New Orleans New Year’s celebrations, killing 14 people and injuring nearly two dozen.
The FBI and Harris County Sheriff’s Office conducted an overnight search in a unit northwest of Houston and found the sulfuric acid bottles in a cooler, according to FBI Houston field office authorities.
Commercially available, sulfuric acid is frequently used and readily combines with other chemicals to create bombs. What the attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, could have intended to do with the sulfuric acid was not further explained by the FBI.
Prior to his death in a confrontation with authorities, Jabbar, a Houston resident, left two improvised explosive devices in New Orleans that failed to detonate, according to FBI sources.
The FBI stated that the bombs were probably composed of RDX, a common explosive, but it is unclear why they did not explode. According to officials, security footage captured Jabbar setting up the explosives along Bourbon Street before the assault.
In an attempt to erase evidence, authorities also think Jabbar burned down the short-term rental house in New Orleans where he stayed. At the house, authorities discovered equipment for making bombs and what they believe to be a silencer.
Law enforcement officials have characterized the attack as an act of terror that was executed by Jabbar alone and was entirely motivated by the Islamic State terrorist organization, or ISIS.
Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, stated at a briefing last week that Jabbar, who took a rental truck from Houston to New Orleans, made Facebook videos while traveling that expressed his support for the group and stated that he had originally intended to harm friends and family but changed his mind because he thought the news media would not cover the conflict between believers and non-believers.
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