Who Is Shamsud-Din Jabbar? Meet the Army Veteran Identified in Deadly NOLA Attack

The FBI has identified 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran from Texas, as the suspect behind the deadly New Year’s Day NOLA attack.

The attack unfolded in the early hours of New Year’s Day (around 3:15 am) after Jabbar drove a rented pickup truck along a three-block stretch on Bourbon Street, hitting dozens of innocent bystanders. Witnesses reported that after ramming through barricades, Jabbar exited the vehicle armed with an assault rifle and began firing indiscriminately into the crowd. The chaos—which left 15 dead and at least 30 others injured—ended when Jabbar was fatally shot during a shootout with law enforcement. Two officers were hit by gunfire but are in stable condition.

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The FBI has suggested that Jabbar may not have acted alone, surveillance footage reportedly caught several individuals placing potential explosive devices along Bourbon Street before the attack. An investigation is ongoing to identify these individuals.

“We are pursuing all leads and believe Jabbar had accomplices,” said FBI Assistant Special Agent Althea Duncan during a press briefing, “If anyone had contact with Shamsud-Din Jabbar in the past 72 hours, please reach out to us immediately.”

Jabbar served in the Army on active duty from 2006 to 2015, then in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020, according to three U.S. defense officials (as reported by NBCnews.com). He was a staff sergeant in 2020 when he was honorably discharged.

Texas criminal records show that Jabbar was charged in 2002 with misdemeanor theft and in 2005 with driving with an invalid license.

He attended Georgia State University from 2015 to 2017 and graduated with a BBA in computer information systems, a university spokesperson said.

Although not yet confirmed, officials speculate that this was a terrorist attack due to evidence pointing to Jabbar’s connection to ISIS. According to preliminary information, Jabbar had a black ISIS flag affixed to the hitch of the Ford F-150 Lightning truck.

President Joe Biden noted in his recent address to the nation that Jabbar posted videos to social media “indicating he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”

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