Disturbing footage shows the 42-year-old man who is responsible for the deadly New Orleans Bourbon Street attack from New Year’s Day posted videos himself before carrying out the massacre. In a set of five videos the suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar shared on his Facebook, he discussed plans to kill his family before shifting his focus onto the deadly rampage. He said he wanted the headlines to be about “the war between the believers and the disbelievers.” He identified himself as belonging to ISIS and said he had joined the organization earlier this year in 2024.
Jabbar, an Afghanistan Army veteran born in Texas, rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers, killing 14 and injuring dozens of others. Before the attack, he also planted two improvised explosive devices, according to FBI officials. The incident occurred at 3:15 a.m. on January 1, 2025, after Jabbar’s chilling decision to call off his plan to murder his family for a public display of violence.
Jabbar was an Army human resource specialist with degrees in computer science and business administration who had also worked in consulting and real estate. On the surface, at least, he had a stable life, which makes it hard for people who knew him to connect the dots between the man they thought they knew and the one who committed such an extreme act. Family members of Jabbar, including his brother Abdur, have been unable to believe his fate. They described him as well-tempered and kind, with no prior signs of radicalization.
The investigation into Jabbar’s activities continues, as investigators analyze his digital footprint, including the videos and other devices found in his possession. They are trying to find out how the man who once served his country turned into a terrorist suspect. They are also looking into his rental truck, which was rented through the car-sharing site Turo, and his checkered personal history, which includes tumultuous divorces and financial hardships.
The attack by Jabbar has sent shockwaves through the New Orleans community and raised investigations into possible connections with other violent incidents, including the explosion in Las Vegas involving a Tesla Cybertruck. Turo, the platform where the truck was rented, is cooperating with the authorities, although they said neither of the two attackers had any criminal history that would have raised a red flag for security purposes.
