The Tragic Transformation of a Military Veteran
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas-born U.S. citizen and former Army veteran, was identified as the perpetrator of a deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans. According to multiple officials involved in the investigation, Jabbar had made chilling recordings discussing plans to kill his family and join ISIS. These videos, posted on Facebook in the hours leading up to the attack, provided a glimpse into his mindset and motivations.
Jabbar, who served in the military for over a decade, including a deployment to Afghanistan, was known to his family as a kind and soft-spoken individual. However, the events that unfolded on New Year’s Day painted a starkly different picture. He drove a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. The attack occurred around 3:15 a.m., and Jabbar was killed while exchanging fire with police after ramming the truck through the crowd.
The Videos That Revealed His Intentions
According to Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, Jabbar posted five videos on Facebook in the hours and minutes leading up to the attack. These videos were posted between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m. on the day of the incident. In these videos, Jabbar made references to his divorce and initially planned to gather his family for a “celebration” with the intention of killing them. However, he later changed his plans, stating that he wanted the news headlines to focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers.”
Raia also mentioned that Jabbar had joined ISIS before this summer. The videos, which CNN has not reviewed, were part of a broader pattern of behavior that law enforcement is now investigating. Additionally, Jabbar planted two improvised explosive devices in the hours before the attack, further indicating his intent to cause maximum harm.
A Life Marked by Contradictions
Jabbar’s life was marked by contradictions. He was a military veteran who served in the Army from March 2007 to January 2015, and later in the Army Reserve until July 2020. He received an associate degree from Central Texas College in 2010 and a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University in 2017, both related to computer science and information technology. After leaving the military, he worked in business development and data engineering at consulting firms Deloitte and Accenture.
In a 2020 YouTube video, Jabbar pitched himself as a real estate agent, emphasizing the importance of discipline and leadership. The video, which has since been taken offline, featured a framed poster with the word “Discipline” and a book titled “Leadership.” This image of a disciplined and responsible individual contrasts sharply with the actions he took on New Year’s Day.
Family and Community Shocked
Jabbar’s family and community were shocked by the attack. His brother Abdur Jabbar, 24, and his father, Rahim Jabbar, 65, described him as a kind and well-tempered person who never showed any signs of radicalization. They struggled to reconcile the attack with the person they knew.
Abdur shared that he spoke with his older brother almost daily over the last year and a half and initially thought there must have been a mistake when a relative first told him about the suspect. However, he later saw his brother’s face plastered on the news, which left him in disbelief.
Jabbar was raised Muslim and regularly attended a mosque on Friday nights. However, he never spoke about ISIS or showed any signs of radicalization, according to his family. They expressed confusion about how someone they knew could commit such a violent act.
Legal Issues and Financial Struggles
Jabbar had a history of legal issues and financial struggles. He had divorced twice, with court documents showing that his first wife sued him in 2012 over child support. The case was dismissed in 2022. In 2020, a Texas judge granted his second wife a restraining order against him during their divorce case, citing the marriage had become “insupportable because of discord or a conflict of personalities.”
Jabbar also had several run-ins with the law. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft of between $50 and $500 and served nine months of “community supervision.” In 2015, he pleaded guilty to charges related to driving under the influence while serving at Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty. He was found to have a blood alcohol level over the legal limit and was placed on probation for 12 months.
In recent years, Jabbar struggled with his finances. In a January 2022 email filed as part of his divorce case, he wrote that he could not afford a mortgage payment on his house, which was more than $27,000 past due. He also mentioned that a business he had formed, Blue Meadow Properties, had lost about $28,000 the prior year, and that other businesses he formed weren’t worth any money. He added that he had incurred about $16,000 in credit card debt.
The Rental Truck and Recent Activities
Jabbar rented the truck he used in the New Orleans attack, a Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck, on the car rental website Turo. The truck’s owner confirmed to CNN in a text message that it was rented on Turo. Jabbar picked up the truck on December 30 before driving from Houston to New Orleans the following day.
Mumtaz Bashir, a neighbor of Jabbar’s in Houston, told CNN he saw Jabbar load up the truck on the morning of December 31 and that Jabbar told him he was moving to New Orleans for a new job. Bashir described Jabbar as a nice but quiet person who minded his own business and never showed any signs of radicalization.
The rental site was also linked to an incident in Las Vegas involving a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside a Trump Hotel. The driver of the Cybertruck died in the explosion, and authorities are investigating whether the incident was a terrorist attack.
