This undated and unlocated handout picture launched by the FBI on January 1, 2025 exhibits a photograph of deceased New Orleans assault suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
– | Afp | Getty Images
A U.S. Army veteran from Texas who drove to Louisiana and intentionally plowed into New Year’s revelers in New Orleans recorded movies through the drive addressed to his household, through which he talked about plans to kill them and informed them he had joined ISIS.
“I needed to report this message for my household,” Shamsud-Din Jabbar stated within the movies. “I needed you to know that I joined ISIS earlier this 12 months.”
He then added: “I do not need you to suppose I spared you willingly.”
He informed his household that he had first needed to prepare a “celebration” for them and make everybody “witness the killing of the apostates,” an obvious reference to killing them.
A senior regulation enforcement official, talking on situation of anonymity to debate delicate data, confirmed to NBC News the contents of the movies, which have been first reported by The New York Times. NBC News has not independently reviewed the movies.
Jabbar, 42, drove a rented truck from Houston to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve, authorities stated, posting movies on-line alongside the best way. Once he reached New Orleans’ well-known Bourbon Street, he planted two improvised explosive gadgets after which acquired again into his truck and plowed into revelers at around 3:15 a.m., killing 14 people before police killed him in a shootout.
Experts stated the small print which have emerged about Jabbar align with the everyday sample of how a veteran can be radicalized to violence.
In the years main as much as Wednesday’s assault, Jabbar skilled his third divorce, collected vital debt and misplaced his company job. Divorce courtroom data from January 2022 reveal he was going through enterprise losses and bank card debt within the tens of hundreds of {dollars}, together with greater than $27,000 in overdue mortgage funds. By August of that 12 months, his financial institution accounts held simply $2,012, in line with filings within the case.
While it could not have shocked specialists, Jabbar’s rampage has bewildered his household, buddies and colleagues, who described him as type and unassuming.
“It’s an entire shock, a shock to everybody,” Jabbar’s half brother, Abdur-Rahim Jabbar IV, 24, stated in an interview this week.
It’s not clear when Jabbar first grew to become drawn to ISIS. Abdur-Rahim Jabbar shared that their father was Muslim and Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s mom, who was Christian, transformed once they married. Jabbar was open about his Muslim religion however did not talk about it in a forceful approach.
The two hardly ever talked about faith, he stated, although they did talk about the conflict in Gaza final 12 months. Jabbar expressed being upset concerning the state of affairs, calling it “genocide on either side.”
After his most up-to-date divorce, Jabbar appeared to grow to be extra religious, although he by no means mentioned ISIS or any radical ideologies. His half brother described him as “looking for himself.”
In early 2024, Jabbar posted audio messages on SoundCloud, together with one titled “Satan’s Voice,” through which he condemned music as “the voice of Satan,” claiming it led folks into forbidden acts like drug use and violence.
