ISIS-inspired terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar set fire to his luxurious New Orleans Airbnb in an attempt to hide evidence, federal officials revealed.
The US Army veteran, 42, left the two-bedroom, two-bathroom property on Mandeville Street covered in white dust and wires before carrying out the deadly attack that killed 15 people and left at least 35 injured.
He turned the residence into a bomb factory before lighting a fire in one of the bedrooms.
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in a statement that Jabbar “started a small fire in the hallway and strategically placed accelerants throughout the house in his effort to destroy it and other evidence of his crime.”
One of the property’s windows was broken, allowing a glimpse inside a charred room covered in black soot and ash.
However, the investigation determined that after he left, the fire was extinguished before it could spread and when New Orleans firefighters arrived, they were able to recover several pieces of evidence.
At the site, the NOFD obtained precursors to bomb-making material and a privately manufactured device suspected of serving as a rifle silencer.
They also collected ‘terabytes of video’ from local security cameras, clothing and cases.
ISIS-inspired terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar set fire to his luxurious New Orleans Airbnb in an attempt to hide evidence, federal officials revealed. Jabbar is believed to have started a fire in one of the bedrooms where the bed and floor were found covered in soot, ash and rubbish.
The US Army veteran, 42, left the two-bedroom, two-bathroom property on Mandeville Street covered in white dust and wires before carrying out the deadly attack that killed 15 people and left at least 35 injured.
He also planned to use a transmitter found on the F150 truck used in the attack to detonate two improvised explosive devices he had placed on Bourbon Street that would also be sent to Quantico for testing.
Federal bomb disposal units and investigators dressed in protective suits arrived on the quiet street and cordoned off the rental location, urging residents to stay away.
After two days of examining the property, investigators returned it to its owner, who declined to comment when approached by DailyMail.com, explaining that the FBI had asked him not to speak.
DailyMail.com’s exclusive photos show the property in complete disarray, with the front and parts of the interior showing scorch marks and empty buckets.
Investigators suspect the terrorist used the property to build his improvised explosive devices which he loaded into the back of his electric truck on New Year’s Eve.
Agents recovered a cooler on Bourbon Street and authorities confirmed that Jabbar had planned to detonate the device remotely.
The terrorist appeared to use one of the two bedrooms as a bomb-making station, with the bed covered in an unidentified white powder, black wires and plastic.
A queen-sized bed was found with no pillows, covered in a white powdery substance, a pair of scissors, paper and a plastic bag from the Kroger store.
He turned the residence into a bomb factory before lighting a fire in one of the bedrooms.
Investigators are working at the scene after a person drove a vehicle into a crowd at Canal and Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day.
Other items were also found scattered throughout the property, including a blue box cutter, work gloves, several pairs of latex gloves and trash bags.
A trash bag containing discarded work gloves and a takeaway box suggested Jabbar had eaten a pizza before carrying out the deadly massacre.
Harsh cleaning chemicals, along with blue gloves, were left outside the property and a window also appeared to have been broken.
Police believe Jabbar, a U.S. citizen born and raised in Texas, drove an electric vehicle from Houston to Louisiana to carry out the deadly attack that killed 15 people and injured at least 35.
Investigators are looking into the theory that he rented a nearby property on Airbnb in the St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans for his base before carrying out the attack.
Earlier this week, exclusive photos from DailyMail.com show the moment the FBI removed bomb-making materials from the two-bedroom, two-bathroom property near the French Quarter.
A full containment container was seen being removed from the property around 8 pm on New Year’s Day, hours after authorities evacuated residents from the area.
The area is mainly home to rentals available to tourists traveling to the area during the holiday period, who have now been left without a place to stay.
DailyMail.com exclusive photos show two-bedroom, two-bathroom property in complete disarray
A broken window offered a glimpse inside a room that appeared to have been set on fire.
Authorities told one couple “not to count” on being allowed back into the properties, blocking a three-street radius.
Officials were called to the property after firefighters put out a fire at the rental in the early hours, with sources claiming “bomb-making materials” were found.
State Attorney General Liz Murrill told NBC News: “We know that these people who had rented the house were using it for that purpose.”
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom property was renovated by real estate developer Oliver Doxater of Wysteria Properties.
Jabbar had been living in a dilapidated trailer outside Houston before traveling to New Orleans to carry out the deadly attack.
On Thursday, photos from DailyMail.com gave a look inside the ramshackle abode, revealing that Jabbar left the house in disarray and left behind dozens of religious items.
Along with the cheap furniture he abandoned in the trailer was a Koran, prayer rugs and a book on Islamic banking and finance.
That book, The Art of Islamic Banking and Finance RF (without riba), aims to “adopt a modern American approach to incorporating Islamic financial principles into banking and investment techniques.”
The wooden floors looked charred and covered in soot and ash.
Corrosive cleaning chemicals were left outside the property and a pair of blue latex gloves were found lying on the porch.
Police investigators surround a white truck that crashed into a work elevator in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
Riba (charging interest on loans) is prohibited in Islamic finance because it is considered an unfair gain.
When DailyMail.com visited the house at the east end of the Heritage Village section of the city early Thursday, the front door was locked. But when we returned later that day, it had been ripped off its hinges allowing the world to see inside.
Jabbar was shot dead in a shootout with police moments after crashing his vehicle into a crowd of revelers.
He had been an open admirer of the Islamic terrorist group ISIS and had the group’s flag flying on his vehicle.
And his home in a mostly Muslim neighborhood in north Houston shows his devotion to Islam. A copy of the Koran was open on an easel next to a vase of artificial flowers.
Other books inside the house included a seven-volume set known as the Islamic library, including a book titled ‘The Sealed Nectar’, a complete biography of the Prophet Muhammad, and several booklets on comparative religions.
Although the house was messy, it was clean.
The house looks like Jabbar left in a hurry. A suitcase and two prayer rugs were thrown onto a blue couch in the living room, along with a black belt.
Incongruously among the religious objects in his living room, a dart board hung on the wall next to a fake fireplace.
Several items, including a blue box cutter and several pairs of latex gloves, were found scattered throughout the property.
A trash bag containing discarded work gloves and a takeaway box suggested Jabbar had eaten a pizza before carrying out the deadly massacre.
Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies work the scene on Bourbon Street.
By the front door, Jabbar left a mobile credit card machine, duct tape and bubble wrap, and several pairs of shoes.
In the kitchen, pantry items were on the counter next to a white fire extinguisher. Under the kitchen counter area, an army green backpack sat on the floor near a black trash can.
Near the kitchen area Jabbar had a desk with several papers and other items on it, there is an area where hours before the police took the hard drive of his computer.
According to a neighbor, Jabbar left his house just hours before his New Year’s Day attack, saying he was moving to New Orleans in search of a better job.
Muntaz Bashir told the New York Post that Jabbar had left just hours before the 3:15 a.m. attack.
Bashir said the neighbor seemed normal when he spoke to him. ‘Unfortunately, you can’t read someone’s mind. I was shocked.’