The four people who authorities believed were in cahoots with New Orleans terrorists Shamsud Din Jabbar They weren't helping him plant bombs in the French Quarter…they were partygoers looking for their next drink.
Federal sources tell TMZ … the confusion began when investigators looked at surveillance video from the Bourbon Street area and noticed three men and a woman peering into two refrigerators where Jabbar had planted homemade bombs … leading to theories that Jabbar did not act alone.
According to our sources, investigators ultimately concluded that these people were not terrorists at all, but rather partygoers checking the coolers to see if there was alcohol inside.
When they didn't find what they were looking for, they walked away, leaving the IEDs undisturbed. Federal authorities now believe these people had no idea they were staring at explosive devices, possibly because they were drunk.
According to our sources, the FBI is now in possession of several of Jabbar's mobile devices… and we hope these devices could shed light on his ISIS radicalization.
According to our sources, authorities have already drawn up a timeline… Jabbar went to a gun store in Houston on December 31, but did not purchase anything, and also spent part of his New Year's Eve at a shooting range.
TMZ.com
Jabbar rented the Ford pickup he used in the attack and got an Airbnb in New Orleans for New Year's Eve… planning to detonate the bombs with a trigger device.