The man who law enforcement authorities say is
responsible for the New Year’s Day mass killing on Bourbon Street once advertised himself as promoting the values he learned in the U.S. Military: respect, integrity and courage.
But a far darker picture emerged on Wednesday: Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who had planned to move to New Orleans, lying dead in Army garb on a bloodied and body-strewn Bourbon Street. He was shot and killed by police, who said he intentionally rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers, opened fire and carried explosives.
At least 15 were killed and dozens more were injured in the mayhem.
Affixed to the truck was a flag bearing the symbol of ISIS, the international terrorist group. Jabbar was a U.S. citizen from Texas; investigators had not confirmed his affiliation with any extremist groups yet by late Wednesday, or released a motive.
A review of public records and interviews with people who knew him offer some clues. Law enforcement officials also said they do not believe
Jabbar acted alone. The incident, though, is raising questions about whether he was a homegrown radical, as the FBI has described the incident as a terrorist attack.
President Joe Biden said Wednesday evening that the FBI told him Jabbar posted videos to social media shortly before the attack "indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill."
Jabbar was an Army veteran who enlisted in 2006 and spent nine years on active duty as an administrative clerk, with a deployment to Afghanistan in 2009. He was discharged honorably in 2020, an Army spokesperson said.
Court and property records show Jabbar lived in Fresno, Texas — about 20 miles south of Houston — with his wife until he lost his house in their divorce in August 2022.
He held a real estate license from 2019 to 2023 and worked for Deloitte, one of the nation’s largest financial services companies, records show. But he also racked up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card and other debts, according to court filings.
Jabbar lived for about two years in a mobile home in north Houston before telling his landlord he was relocating to New Orleans as a renter about a month ago, the landlord said in an interview Wednesday.
’I was shocked. I was really shocked. I really cried,” said Asia Maryam, the landlord. “He was supposed to pass the key to the other tenant. I asked them if he passed the key. They said no, he’s going to New Orleans and he’s coming back to drop off his stuff.”
Maryam said he never gave her or the neighbors any problems and paid his rent in cash on time every month. She said she recently received a call about his rental history from a prospective landlord in New Orleans.
Maryam said Jabbar worked from home, though she doesn’t know what he did for a living. Jabbar told her he was keeping his same job but would work with different clients when he moved to New Orleans.
If he had begun to associate with extremist ideologies during a period of isolation, he didn’t appear to make it known publicly. He left little of an online footprint, other than his dormant company’s website and a YouTube video he posted four years ago, promoting his real estate business.
Abdur Jabbar, 24, told The New York Times that he was a brother of the suspect, and that his brother was smart, caring and converted to Islam at a young age.
“But what he did does not represent Islam,” said the younger Jabbar. “This is more some type of radicalization, not religion.”
The current spouse of Jabbar’s ex-wife also told reporters outside of their home in Houston on Wednesday that Jabbar had been practicing Islam and begun to behave erratically, The New York Times reported.
He said Jabbar had two daughters.
Suspect grew up in Texas, worked in real estate
Jabbar was a quiet kid in school growing up, belonging to a Muslim family that had strict rules about schoolwork, according to Edmond Dean, who said he was a childhood friend of Jabbar’s in Beaumont, where they grew up.
Dean described Jabbar as “really smart” with high scores on standardized tests. Jabbar’s parents divorced when they were still in school and Jabbar joined a local Christian church, Dean said.
Jabbar went to the University of Houston briefly after high school on an academic scholarship but dropped out after posting bad grades, Dean said. Representatives for the university did not respond to messages Wednesday.
Jabbar went on to become a real estate agent, and posted a YouTube video in 2021 promoting his business. He promised customers service at his real estate company centered on the values he learned in the Army.
He said he spent 10 years as a human resources and IT specialist in the military.
A man by the same name attended Georgia State University from 2015-2017 and graduated with a degree in computer information systems, a school spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Deloitte said Jabbar was hired in 2021.
“We are shocked to learn of reports today that the individual identified as a suspect had any association with our firm," the spokesperson said in a statement. "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.”
Dean said he was shocked at the news. He had lost touch with Jabbar more than a decade ago but knew Jabbar had a real estate business and was married.
“He was quiet,” Dean said. “He didn’t fight anybody. He was a pretty boy guy … A lot of girls liked him.”
Divorce filings say suspect was in debt
Divorce filings show that Jabbar’s ex-wife said he had money troubles.
His ex-wife, Shaneen McDaniel, said in court filings that Jabbar wasted the couple’s money through “excessive cash withdrawals, gifts to paramours” and “unreasonable and unnecessary spending” that she said accumulated a mound of debt.
In correspondence attached to divorce filings,
Jabbar said in February 2022 that he could no longer afford his house payments, which were past due $27,000. He also amassed $16,000 in credit card debt to pay for housing, attorney's fees and other expenses, he said.
A judge later ordered Jabbar to pay McDaniel back for some of that debt.
Jabbar’s father-in-law from his recent marriage in Texas, Lawrence Kuykendall, said by phone Wednesday that his family hadn’t spoken to Jabbar recently. He said early Wednesday that he hadn’t been contacted by law enforcement yet and declined to speak further.
“I don’t want to believe this,” Kuykendall said.
Were there multiple suspects?
Law enforcement officials have said they believe Jabbar had accomplices, though they have not publicly identified any.
“We do not believe Jabbar was solely responsible," said Alethea Duncan, the FBI New Orleans Assistant Special Agent in Charge at a news conference.
Two pipe bombs were planted around the French Quarter, which were concealed in coolers and wired for remote detonation.
While officials are still trying to determine whether Jabbar had ties to terrorist groups, federal officials have also warned that overseas conflicts could spill into the United States.
