Timeline of the New Year’s Day truck attack in New Orleans that killed 14

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This article was published 05/01/2025 (335 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A timeline of events leading to and following the New Year’s Day vehicle attack that killed 14 people in New Orleans before police fatally shot the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, at the crash scene in the city’s French Quarter:

— June 22-July 3, 2023 — Jabbar visits Cairo and then returns to the United States.

— July 10-13, 2023 — Jabbar visits Ontario, Canada, before returning to the U.S.

— Oct. 30, 2024 — Jabbar visits New Orleans.

— Oct. 31 — Jabbar records himself using Meta smart glasses while riding a bicycle through the French Quarter as he “plotted” the attack, the FBI said.

— Nov. 10 — Jabbar visits New Orleans again.

— Nov. 19 — Jabbar legally purchases a semiautomatic rifle in a private sale in Arlington, Texas. Authorities say the seller had no knowledge of Jabbar’s intentions.

— Dec. 31 — Jabbar visits a gun store in Texas. He also purchases an ice chest that authorities said would hold an improvised explosive device.

— 2:30 p.m., Dec. 31 — Jabbar enters Louisiana.

— 9 p.m., Dec. 31 — Jabbar’s rented F-150 pickup truck seen in Gonzales, Louisiana, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the French Quarter in New Orleans.

— 12:41 a.m., Jan. 1 — Jabbar parks the truck and walks to Royal and Governor Nichols Street in New Orleans.

— 1:53 a.m., Jan. 1 — Jabbar places the first improvised explosive device at Bourbon and St. Peter streets. Someone moved the cooler containing the IED to Orleans Street, one block over. Investigators said the person who moved the cooler was not connected to the attack.

— 2:20 a.m., Jan. 1 — Jabbar places a second IED at Bourbon and Toulouse streets.

— 3:15 a.m., Jan. 1 — Jabbar drives the F-150 pickup truck onto a sidewalk around a police car blockading the Canal Street entrance to Bourbon Street and rams into New Year’s revelers, killing 14 people and injuring dozens of others. He crashes into construction equipment. Police officers shoot and kill Jabbar after he opens fire on them and Bourbon Street crowds.

— 5:18 a.m., Jan. 1 — New Orleans Fire Department responds to a fire at a short-term rental home on Mandeville Street. While Jabbar had placed accelerants throughout the home seeking to destroy evidence, authorities said, the fire went out. Investigators said they recovered bomb-making materials and what appeared to be a homemade rifle silencer. Federal investigators believe he set the fire earlier in the day before leaving for the French Quarter.

— 1 p.m., Jan. 2 — Bourbon Street reopens to the public.

— Jan. 4 — New Orleans residents gather at Bourbon Street for a vigil to honor the victims of the attack. The final victim killed in the attack is identified by her family as LaTasha Polk, a mother and nursing assistant from New Orleans.