A U.S. Army veteran from Texas, driving a truck adorned with a flag of the Islamic State, rammed into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early Wednesday morning, killing 15 people and injuring dozens more.
The suspect in the deadly rampage, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was shot dead at the scene during an exchange of gunfire with police. Weapons and a potential improvised explosive device, or IED, were found in Jabbar’s truck, the FBI said. Other potential IEDs were found around the city’s French Quarter.
President Joe Biden confirmed Wednesday night that Jabbar had served in the U.S. military. According an Army spokesperson, Jabbar was on active duty from March 2007 until January 2015 as a human resource specialist and information technology specialist. He deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.
After leaving active duty, Jabbar joined the Army Reserve, where he worked as an IT specialist until July 2020, the spokesperson said. He held the rank of staff sergeant at the end of his military career.
The FBI is investigating the murders as an act of terrorism and working to learn of Jabbar’s affiliations with terrorist organizations, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Hours before the attack, Jabbar posted videos on social media expressing a desire to kill, Biden said during a public address about the attack. The videos indicated “he was inspired by ISIS,” Biden said.
“The situation is very fluid, and the investigation is at a preliminary stage,” Biden said. “The law enforcement and intelligence community is continuing to look for any connections, affiliations or co-conspirators.”
The rampage adds to a list of extremist attacks carried out by people with military backgrounds since 1990. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, keeps a database of such attacks. Of the veterans and service members who were driven by extremist ideologies to commit crimes, 15% were connected to foreign Islamist extremist organizations, the data says.
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Authorities confirmed Jabbar was born in the United States, after President-elect Donald Trump implied in a social media post Wednesday that the perpetrator was an immigrant.
Rich Groen, who says he was Jabbar’s commander in Afghanistan, posted a statement on X on Wednesday, describing Jabbar as a “great soldier” who worked “quietly and professionally” as a mail clerk.
“To think that the same individual who once embodied quiet professionalism could harbor so much hate, leading to such unspeakable atrocities, is incomprehensible and heartbreaking,” Groen wrote. “This transformation is a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked anger, isolation, and hate.”
Nikki Wentling covers disinformation and extremism for Military Times. She’s reported on veterans and military communities for eight years and has also covered technology, politics, health care and crime. Her work has earned multiple honors from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors and others.
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