Driving a white van, the 42-year-old man rushed into a busy city street on New Year's Eve, killing at least 15 people. He was carrying an Islamic State flag and explosive devices. Accomplices are being sought.
In a 2020 video still available on the web, Shamsud-Din Jabbar appears wearing a wool jacket and a light blue shirt. Behind him, a sign proclaims «Discipline». For 1min41, the man explains with a typical southern American accent how he puts his experience in the army to use in his new career as a property manager. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a white Ford pickup truck into a crowd celebrating New Year's Eve on Bourbon Street, killing at least fifteen people and injuring around thirty others before being shot dead by the law enforcement.
In his Texas-registered car, rented from a private individual via a site, he carried weapons, explosive devices and a flag of the Islamic State, the once powerful, now moribund, terrorist group seeking a comeback. During a televised address from the Camp David residence, Joe Biden indicated Wednesday that “just a few hours before the attack” murderer, the suspect had “posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by the Islamic State”. These videos also demonstrate a “desire to kill”added the American president.
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“A love, a nice guy, a friend”
His brother, Abdur Jabbar, who confided in New York Times talk about him like“a sweetheart, a nice guy, a friend, very intelligent, caring”. It indicates that the suspect had converted to Islam at a young age, stressing “What he did does not represent Islam. It is rather a form of radicalization”.
A childhood friend also contacted by the New York daily, Chris Pousson, remembers a person who “didn’t create problems, got good grades”. Recounting having reconnected with him in 2017 via social networks, this retired soldier indicates that he “was never threatening, but you could see he had become really intense about his faith.”
Shortly after the attack, perhaps informed of the suspect's surname, Donald Trump blamed immigration. “When I say that the criminals who are coming are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement has been repeatedly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it has been proven be true”reacted the Republican on his Truth Social network. However Shamsud-Din Jabbar was not an immigrant. “Born and raised in Beaumont, Texas”he proclaims in the 2020 video, this 42-year-old man was, according to several sources, well integrated and appeared to take seriously his activity as a property manager, started according to his digital CV in 2017. The army, he declared in front of the camera, had taught him “what it means to be responsive and take everything seriously (…) to make sure things go smoothly”.
At a press conference in New Orleans on Wednesday, the FBI also said he had left the army «honorable». He was incorporated from 2007 to 2015, including a deployment to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, finishing as a staff sergeant, according to the Ministry of Defense.
As for his criminal record, it includes two rather minor facts: a theft in 2002 and driving with an invalid license in 2005, revealed the New York Times. Few details have filtered out about his life. We hardly know that on Wednesday Texan law enforcement closed a road leading to a white mobile home located in Houston, one of its recent addresses according to the Associated Press (AP).
The New York Times reports that Mr. Jabbar was married twice and was divorcing in 2022, citing financial difficulties in a letter to his wife's lawyer. According to the newspaper, he said he lost $28,000 in his agency and offered to sell their house and share the proceeds. Shamsud-Din Jabbar earned a degree in computer science at Georgia State University after spending two years studying between 2015 and 2017, a university spokesperson told AFP.
How did this apparently tidy and discreet man prepare his murderous expedition? The FBI said Wednesday during a press conference that it was certain that he had not acted alone. Without providing much more detail. Later in the day, the AP revealed that it had access to a police document mentioning surveillance camera videos. On the tapes appear three men and a woman in the process of placing one of the numerous explosive devices found in the French Quarter, the scene of the killing. “We are trying to see if he had any connections with Islamic networks” the FBI said. And at least four accomplices are still being sought.
