It was 42-year-old former U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas native, who was the alleged terrorist who on New Year’s Eve drove a van into the crowd on Canal Street and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 people.
As stated by authorities, an ISIS flag was found inside the Ford F-150 Lightning EV, which the man had previously rented. Jabbar died shortly after the attack, following a shootout with police.
The 42-year-old had served in the army for more than a decade, and was stationed in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 as an IT specialist. For his service in Afghanistan, Jabbar was awarded the Global War on Terrorism medal. However, in recent years, his life had taken a turn for the worse.
In 2012, his first wife divorced him, suing him for child support for his two daughters. After the end of his second marriage, from which he had a third child, in 2022, however, Jabbar accumulated more than $16,000 in debt to pay court costs and those for a second home. In recent times, the man resided at a squalid trailer park in suburban Houston, inhabited mostly by Muslim immigrants. Outside his own dilapidated “dwelling,” several animals, such as geese, chickens, and sheep, were found grazing freely in the surrounding area.
As a young man, he had had some minor problems with the law. In 2002, he was sentenced to nine months’ probation after pleading guilty to one count of petty theft. Three years later he was arrested for driving with a suspended license. Once he enlisted, however, Jabbar seemed to put that period behind him for good.
His neighbors, interviewed yesterday shortly before federal authorities arrived, described him as a quiet person, very reserved and of few words. “He was pretty quiet,” said one of the local residents, ”he just walked, waved, and that was it.”
After leaving the army, he had recently worked at Deloitte, a consulting and audit services firm, as a “senior solutions specialist.” On his company profile, Jabbar had cited hunting and prayer among his interests, even reporting a short translation from the Quran. In a video posted on YouTube in 2020 for his real estate business, however, the former military man described himself as a reliable and trustworthy Texan.
“We are shocked to learn of reports today that the individual identified as a suspect had any association with our firm”, Deloitte announced yesterday, “Like everyone, we are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing all we can to assist authorities in their investigation.”
