RCMP asks Canadians to help FBI investigate New Orleans attack

The Mounties are asking Canadians to come forward with any information that can help U.S. authorities probe the attack that killed 14 people in New Orleans on New Year's Day.

Early that morning a man drove a pickup truck along a crowded stretch of the city's famed Bourbon Street, slamming into revellers.

U.S. authorities have since identified him as Shamsud-Din Jabbar. The 42-year-old Texas resident was a former U.S. army member, who investigators say had proclaimed his support for ISIS prior to the attack.

Jabbar, who died in a shootout with police, had travelled to both Egypt and Canada in 2023 — arriving in Ontario on July 10 and returning to the U.S. on July 13, according to Lyonel Myrthil, FBI special agent in charge of the New Orleans Field Office.

The RCMP on Tuesday asked Canadians "to report any information which could be pertinent to the FBI's investigation."

Separately on Tuesday, the FBI released a new image of Jabbar, showing him riding a bicycle in New Orleans's French Quarter on Oct. 31 — two months prior to the Jan. 1 attack. Investigators want to speak with anyone who was in that neighbourhood that afternoon, if they have information that may be helpful.