What we know about New Orleans terror attacker
Early New Year's Day a man plowed a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 people and injuring many more.
The driver has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar. The incident is currently being investigated by the FBI as a terrorist attack.
Jabbar, who reportedly used the car-renting app Turo to secure the truck, was fatally shot by police after he opened fire on officers.
The attack has also led to heightened security in other areas, including Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Here’s what we know about Jabbar:
U.S. citizenship
Jabbar, 42, was a U.S. citizen from Texas.
According to a now-removed LinkedIn profile, Jabbar studied at Georgia State University from 2015-17 and graduated with a degree in computer information systems, BBC reported.
He had been married and divorced twice and court filings obtained by USA Today show he expressed financial distress during his second divorce, though he listed a gross salary of $120,000 per year working for Deloitte, a global accounting firm.
CNN reported his first wife sued him in 2012 over child support and he then filed for divorce. In 2020, a Texas judge granted Jabbar’s second wife a restraining order during their divorce proceedings.
He also previously held a real estate license and had traffic offenses and theft on his record.
Jabbar was a legal U.S. citizen, despite many jumping to the conclusion that he was not.
President-elect Trump did not explicitly weigh in on Jabbar’s citizenship status but posted online a similar immigration message that he held while on the campaign trail.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump said.
“This crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before," he added.
Trump said his hearts are with the victims and city of New Orleans after the attack.
Army record
Jabbar enlisted in the Army in 2007, at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an official that spoke with USA Today.
He initially served as a human resources specialist — which included work on payroll, mail delivery and processing medals. He then became an information technology specialist and would have been trained as a computer-system troubleshooter.
Jabbar was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 until January 2015. He was also posted at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska and then-Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the outlet reported.
Jabbar joined the Army Reserve after his deployment and served as an IT specialist until July 2020.
He left the Army as a staff sergeant and was given an honorable discharge, the official told USA Today.
Inspired by ISIS
Jabbar was believed to be inspired by the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group.
He was carrying an ISIS flag on the trailer hitch of the truck he rented for the attack.
The FBI said it was working to determine Jabbar’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
The FBI’s bomb technicians are working to determine if explosives found in the truck and elsewhere near Bourbon Street were viable. Authorities believe Jabbar was not working alone.
President Biden, in remarks delivered Wednesday, said Jabbar posted videos on social media hours before the attack that “indicated that he was inspired by ISIS” and had a “desire to kill.”
The Islamic State group has welcomed any chance to behead Americans and other foreigners who come into its territory, The Associated Press reported. The group has inspired others around the world to carry out attacks on innocent civilians.
Jabbar’s attack reflects the deadliest ISIS-inspired attack in the U.S. in several years, according to the AP.
Threats to family members
In a series of videos, Jabbar discussed planning to kill his family and having dreams that inspired him to join ISIS, officials told CNN.
Jabbar was believed to have made the recordings while driving from his home state of Texas to Louisiana for the attack.
He said he’d planned to first gather his family for a “celebration” with the intent of killing them. He mentioned his divorce in the videos.
Instead, he changed plans and decided to join the Islamic State, officials said.
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