Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the Texas man suspected of ramming his truck into the crowd of New Year revellers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans killing 15 people, left a series of chilling videos wherein he described his plans to kill his family and join ISIS. The videos, which have not yet been verified, were made during nighttime while he was driving from his home in Texas to Louisiana, authorities believe.
Jabbar, who was killed in a fire exchange with the police at the scene, says he had plans to gather his family for a "celebration" before killing them. However, he changed his plans. In the recordings, he also talked about having dreams about why he should be joining ISIS, CNN quoted unnamed officials. Jabbar had potential Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and an ISIS flag in the Ford F-150 Lightning truck he drove. The vehicle was rented from a car-sharing company.
The US citizen who served in Afghanistan also spoke about his divorce. According to civil records, Jabbar was married twice, the first marriage ending in 2012. It is unclear when he married again, but a petition for a second divorce was initiated in 2021. In 2020, Jabbar's then-wife filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against him.
New horrific video of the terrorist attack in New Orleans, look at how fast that SOB was going when he targeted people on the street pic.twitter.com/bYbGGSrxyr
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) January 1, 2025
Army service
Jabbar served in the Army for more than a decade, from 2006 to 2015 as a human resource specialist and information technology specialist on active duty. It was during this stint that he was deployed to Afghanistan, between February 2009 and January 2010. After leaving active duty in January 2015, Jabbar served in the Army Reserve until July 2020.
He is then said to have ventured into real estate, as evident from a 2020 YouTube video titled 'Personal Introduction' where he describes himself as a "professional real estate agent based in Houston." Jabbar describes himself in the video as a military veteran who "learned the importance of great service and taking everything seriously."
"I've taken those skills and applied them to my career as a real estate agent, where I feel like what really sets me apart from other agents is my ability to be able to... be a fierce negotiator," he said. Records also show he took a range of real estate classes on topics such as contract law and finance between 2018 and 2021.
Accomplices to the attack?
While the attack is being investigated as both a terrorist act and a crime scene, police believe Jabbar was not "solely responsible" for the attack. FBI special agent in New Orleans field office Alethea Duncan told reporters that the agency was aggressively running down all of the leads to identify the possible subjects and associates.
