FBI Slammed for Allowing Reporter to Give Tour of New Orleans Terrorist Suspect's Home and Showing 'A Bomb Making Station' Days After Attack — 'Why Isn't This Sealed Off?'
Jabbar's desk was covered in evidence.
Jan. 3 2025, Updated 12:38 p.m. ET
A newspaper reporter has somehow gained unprecedented access to the New Orleans bombing suspect's home, touring the Houston property and showing off an array of religious propaganda and materials that could have been used for making bombs.
Now RadarOnline.com can report the FBI has come under fire for seemingly letting an outsider "contaminate a crime scene."
A workstation displayed chemical and bomb-making devices.
Journalist Jennie Taer shared an in-depth house tour just days after the attack. The New York Post reporter filmed herself walking right into Shamsud-Din Jabbar's Houston area home, revealing a mess of possible evidence officials left exposed scattered around the property.
The front door was ripped off the hinges, allowing easy access to the small trailer home.
A work area just inside the living room still displayed various electronics and chemicals, while two computer monitors were hoisted above the desk.
A search warrant and a variety of confiscated items rested on a kitchen island.
Jabbar is accused of killing at least 14 people.
Jabbar also had a collection of religious materials lying around, including his rolled-up prayer rug and a Quran suspiciously left open on a page about killing others in the name of "Allah."
The passage specifically states: "They fight in Allah’s cause, and slay and are slain; a promise binding…"
The verse seems to encourage the responsibility of Muslims to kill the enemies of Allah.
Online, people could not believe what they were seeing, and slammed officials for allowing an outsider to gain such easy access.
On X, one person raged: "Why were you given this much access 2 days after the event? Why wasn’t this sealed off and still a part of an active investigation?"
Another tweeter begged to know: "Why isn't that site secure?!?!?!?!"
One person blasted: "Congratulations nitwit, you just contaminated a crime scene. You are in such a hurry to be 1st that you just threw DOUBT on this entire investigation. Shame on the investigator or Law Enforcement that allowed you into this place. You compromised the investigation."
While one person doubted: "Can’t be real. It’s an active crime scene, and some random broad in yoga pants is allowed to walk around in there?"
An evidence catalogue left behind by the FBI
Authorities say Jabbar, 42, drove a pickup truck with an ISIS flag tied to the back into a crowd of New Year's revelers on Bourbon Street, killing at least 14 and injuring many others. Jabbar later died in a fiery shootout with police.
Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, told reporters: "We know that he specifically picked out Bourbon Street, not sure why."
He added: "He was 100 percent inspired by ISIS."
FBI officials said Jabbar posted five videos on his Facebook account in the hours before the attack in which he aligned himself with the terrorist organization. He said he had joined the militant group last summer.
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Jabbar had a Quran opened to a specific passage.
Jabbar was a US citizen and graduated from Georgia State University in 2017 with a degree in computer information systems. He was also a military veteran, having served in the army from 2007 to 2020. He was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.
Residents in Jabbar's predominantly Muslim Houston neighborhood told Taer he claimed he was moving to New Orleans for a new job. When one neighbor offered to help him move, Jabbar reportedly declined, explaining that he was moving to a furnished apartment and had no need to bring anything with him.
