Driving a pickup truck into a throng on Bourbon Street on January 1, 2025, a Texas man named Shamsud Din Jabber, 42, murdered 14 people and seriously injured many more. After he and police personnel swapped rounds, he was killed by a bullet. People worried about probable links to radicalism as the vehicle carried an ISIS flag.
Who Was Shamsud Din Jabber?
Born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, he graduated from Central High School in 2001. Following that, he attended Georgia State University from 2015 and 2017 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Information Systems. While enrolled at Georgia State, Jabbar claimed that some of his tuition was paid for by the G.I. Bill.
Jabbar’s Military Service and Transition
Shamsud Din Jabber worked in IT and HR when he was in the U.S. Army from 2007 and 2015. He spent one year assigned to Afghanistan between 2009 and 2010. He developed as an IT specialist in the service Reserve during his service tenure. He made his way up to Staff Sergeant while staying in the Reserve until 2020. Over 10 years of military service defined him.
Professional Pursuits: Jabbar’s Career in IT and Real Estate
After serving in the military, Shamsud Din Jabber moved into the business world and became a senior solution specialist at Deloitte in 2021. He worked on creating and applying technology solutions for clients as part of this job. Deloitte was shocked to learn that he was involved in the attack in New Orleans and promised to help the police with their investigation.
Financial Woes and Marital Challenges
Poor Shamsud Din Jabber had a lot of money problems. He was over $27,000 behind on his house payments and had a lot of credit card debt. His divorces made these financial problems even worse. Court records show he went through several divorces, the last one being completed in 2022. Even though Jabbar made a good salary at Deloitte, he had a hard time paying his bills and child support.
A Shift in Beliefs
After his split in 2022, Shamsud Din Jabber felt more and more alone and turned to faith to feel better. He turned into a more devoted Muslim and stopped spending time with his friends and family. His ideas became more radical over time. By the spring of 2024, he had fully adopted extreme ideas. He put online movies promoting ISIS right before the attack.
Jabbar’s Reconnaissance Missions in New Orleans
In the months before the attack on New Year’s Day, 2024, Shamsud Din Jabber went to New Orleans twice? once in October and again in November. During his trip in October, he used Meta smart glasses to secretly record video while riding his bike through the French Quarter, which made it look like he was spying. He carefully planned these trips as part of his preparations for the next attack.
A Timeline of Events Leading Up to the Tragedy
Shamsud Din Jabber used a car-sharing app to rent a white Ford F-150 pickup truck in Houston, Texas, on December 30, 2024. He took the car to New Orleans, Louisiana, the next day, getting into the state around 2:30 p.m. He rented a house on Mandeville Street when he got there, unloaded the truck, and got ready for the attack. In the early hours of January 1, 2025, Jabbar set off homemade bombs in the French Quarter and then drove a rented truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing several people and hurting many more.
Details of the Bourbon Street Tragedy
Shamsud Din Jabber drove a hired white Ford F-150 pickup truck around a police roadblock and into a crowd on New Orleans’s Bourbon Street at 3:15 a.m. on January 1, 2025. Ten people were killed and over 30 were hurt. As soon as the car stopped, Jabbar got out and shot two police officers, hurting them. When the police fired back, they killed Jabbar. The attack is being looked into as a terrorist act because there is proof that Jabbar pledged loyalty to ISIS.
Jabbar’s Social Expressed Intentions
Shamsud Din Jabber posted five videos on Facebook between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m. on January 1, 2025, just before the attack in New Orleans. In them, he praised ISIS and said he was going to do harm. In these tapes, he swore loyalty to the terrorist group and talked about his plans. He said that he had thought about attacking family members at first but decided on a public attack to get more attention. During their probe, the FBI determined that these videos were real.
Everything about this is heavy and, to be honest, pretty disturbing. Not only what happened, but also how that person got there without anyone stopping them. There’s still a lot to learn, but I hope it starts real talks about how to spot the early warning signs and act before it’s too late.
