A U.S. Army veteran from Texas is the suspect in a bloody New Year's Day attack in New Orleans that killed at least 15 people and left 30 more injured.
Federal investigators identified Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, as the man who intentionally rammed a rented pickup into revelers around 3:15 a.m. on Bourbon Street as people were ringing in the new year.
He died during a shootout with police. Two officers were shot during the melee and are in stable condition, officials said.
Federal and local officials are working in tandem to uncover the motivation behind the attack and determine whether Jabbar acted alone or had help.
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"This is not just an act of terrorism. This is evil," said Anne Kirkpatrick, New Orleans Police superintendent.
The carnage unfolded when Jabbar drove onto a sidewalk, bypassing a police vehicle that had been parked to block cars from pedestrians celebrating on crowded Bourbon Street, officials told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
According to preliminary information, Jabbar had a black flag affixed to the hitch of the F-150 Lightning truck, and officials are investigating whether that flag is related to the terrorist group ISIS and any connections he had with terrorist organizations.
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The car-sharing marketplace Turo said the vehicle was rented from its company.
In an address to the nation, President Joe Biden said Jabbar posted videos to social media “indicating he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill."
“The ISIS flag was found in his vehicle,” Biden added, citing information from the FBI and saying no one should jump to conclusions about the investigation.
Federal officials and local law enforcement in New Orleans are investigating if Jabbar used a long-gun rifle and fired it into the crowd as he ran people over, three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation told NBC News.
The incident is being investigated both as a terrorist attack and a crime scene, federal and local officials said.
"We will be relentless, and we will do everything that it takes to render real justice," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said during a news conference.
The FBI, which is leading the investigation, said weapons and potential improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, were in Jabbar's car and in the French Quarter.
Officials are looking into at least two IEDs that may have been planted near the attack area to see if those were actual explosive devices and if they were operable.
Investigators do not believe Jabbar was “solely responsible” for the attack and have asked for the public’s assistance.
"We’re aggressively running down all of the leads to identify this, the possible subjects, associates, we’re working to ensure that there is no further threat," Alethea Duncan, an assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office, told reporters.
Jabbar served in the Army on active duty from 2006 to 2015, then in the Army Reserves from 2015 to 2020, according to three U.S. defense officials.
He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and served as an administrative clerk. He was a staff sergeant in 2020, when he was honorably discharged.
Separately, he tried to enlist in the Navy in 2004 but never shipped or began training, according to a spokesperson.
Texas criminal records show that Jabbar had previously been charged in 2002 with misdemeanor theft and in 2005 for driving with an invalid license.
A childhood friend said Jabbar's alleged actions on Wednesday don't at all align with the person he knew growing up in Beaumont, Texas.
"What happened today was a complete 180 of anything I ever knew about him," said Chris Pousson, who last spoke with Jabbar, who he called "Sham," sometime in 2017 in 2018. "He was very quiet, very reserved, smart, articulate."
Pousson said he first met Jabbar in 1996 at Beaumont Middle School. They became instant friends and later attended the same high school. After graduating, the two lost touch when Jabbar joined the Army and Pousson joined the Air Force.
When they reconnected on Facebook several years later, Pousson noticed Jabbar's posts focused on his Muslim faith.
"It was always positive — peace be with you, uplifting type of stuff," Pousson said. "Nothing that he posted online that I saw was negative."
"I didn't see this coming from a mile away," he added.
Jabbar attended Georgia State University from 2015 to 2017 and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in computer information systems, according to a university spokesperson.
Civil records show Jabbar was married twice, with his first marriage ending in 2012. A petition for a second divorce was initiated in 2021.
In 2020, Jabber’s soon-to-be ex wife filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, according to public records.
The order stated that both parties cannot “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to the other party or to a child of either party” or “threatening the other party or a child of either party with imminent bodily injury.”
A month later, the divorce case was dismissed, and new divorce petition was filed in 2021.
The divorce was finalized in 2022. Jabbar and his ex-wife were granted joint custody of their child.
In a video posted to YouTube in 2020, Jabbar said he was born in Beaumont, Texas, and worked in real estate after serving a decade in the military.
His real estate license expired in 2023, according to Texas Real Estate Commission records.
A woman who identified herself as Jabbar’s sister-in-law and asked to not be named said relatives in Texas were in shock when they heard the news.
It makes "no sense,” she said. “He’s the nicest person I’ve ever known.”
“I really don’t know what happened,” she added. “He was a good man. He takes care of his children and everything.”
She said some family members were heading from Texas to New Orleans.
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