Federal prosecutors in Kansas City charged a man with distributing videos they said were studied by Shamsud Din-Jabbar, who killed 14 people with a pickup truck last New Year’s Day, to build explosive devices he planted in the French Quarter before the attack.
Jordan Derrick, of Sweet Springs, Missouri, repeatedly shared videos of himself building improvised explosive devices on public social media pages beginning around September of 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri said in a Tuesday.
Derrick faces one count each of manufacturing explosive materials without a license, unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device and distributing information related to making explosives.
Jabbar downloaded videos from Derrick’s public accounts, according to an FBI complaint, and the improvised explosive devices he placed in several locations around downtown New Orleans on the morning of the attack were “consistent with Derrick’s instructional videos,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Law enforcement agents disarmed the devices before they could detonate.
Jabbar, who officials said later was inspired by the Islamic State terror group, was shot dead by police after barreling down a crowded Bourbon Street in his Ford F-150 Lightning shortly after 3 a.m. on New Year’s Day last year.
The charges against Derrick mark the first instance of another person being charged in connection with the terror attack, which scrambled New Orleans’ security planning for Mardi Gras and the Sugar Bowl and spawned a frenzied law enforcement search for possible additional suspects.
Law enforcement initially said they believed Jabbar acted alongside accomplices they believed had helped him plant the explosive devices in several locations, but later backtracked and said they believe he had acted alone.
Officials in Iraq last year they said was responsible for “inciting” the attack, according to news agencies there. But the FBI responded by saying U.S. officials still believe Jabbar acted alone.
The FBI investigation into the attack is ongoing, officials said.
Prosecutors secured the charges against Derrick following a May 4 explosion at a home in Odessa, Missouri. An occupant of the home told federal agents that he had made explosive devices after watching videos on social media, which the feds allege were made by Derrick, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.