New Orleans truck attacker identified as Army veteran from Texas; may have been inspired by ISIS, Biden says
The man responsible for a deadly truck attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, the FBI said. He was a U.S. Army veteran who lived in Houston. President Biden said Wednesday evening that he appears to have been inspired by ISIS.
Officials say 15 people were killed and dozens injured when the attacker drove around barricades and hurtled down Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter as New Year’s revelers were celebrating early on Wednesday. New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick described the attack as “very intentional behavior.”
“He was hellbent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did,” Kirkpatrick said.
The FBI said it is investigating the incident “as an act of terrorism,” and said it’s investigating the possibility others may have been involved.
In televised remarks Wednesday evening, President Biden said, “The FBI also reported to me that mere hours before the attack, he posted videos to social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill.”
What happened on Bourbon Street in New Orleans?
The attacker drove a pickup truck into a crowd at about 3:15 a.m., killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens of others, officials said. He then exited the vehicle — a Ford pickup he rented via the Turo carsharing app in Texas — and fired upon local law enforcement, the FBI said. Two law enforcement officers were wounded and transported to a local hospital.
The attacker was struck by police fire and declared dead at the scene, the New Orleans Police Department said.
“This man was trying to run over as many people as he could,” said Kirkpatrick, adding that the two police officers who were hit by gunfire were in a stable condition.
Officials said Jabbar bypassed barriers put in place on Bourbon Street instead of security bollards during the attack. New Orleans was replacing bollards on the street and near completion before the upcoming Super Bowl, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.
CBS News
Kirkpatrick said Jabbar drove around the barriers bypassing patrol cars, barriers and law enforcement and onto the sidewalk.
“We had a car there, we had barriers there, we had officers there, and he still got around, ” Kirkpatrick said.
The deceased attacker was wearing body armor, two sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News. A long gun “with a suppressive device” on it that acted as a silencer was recovered from the scene, law enforcement sources said.
“Weapons and a potential IED were located in the subject’s vehicle,” the FBI said in a statement Wednesday. “Other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter.” The FBI said Wednesday afternoon that two IEDs had been found and neutralized.
An ISIS flag was found on the trailer hitch of the vehicle, the FBI said.
Investigators from the FBI, Homeland Security and bomb squad have also been on the scene at an Airbnb in the St. Roch area of New Orleans, where officials tell CBS News the suspect was staying while in New Orleans. That building caught fire on Wednesday and the investigation into that fire is ongoing.
What we know about the Bourbon Street attacker
According to records obtained by CBS News, Jabbar was a resident of Houston who previously served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves. The FBI Houston said Wednesday that authorities were conducting law enforcement activity in North Houston.
Handout/FBI
In a 2020 YouTube video that appears to have been posted by Jabbar, said he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and described himself as a real estate agent. The video was removed from YouTube on Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesperson for Georgia State University told CBS News that Jabbar attended the university from 2015 to 2017 and graduated with a B.B.A. in Computer Information Systems.
He had a hunting and fishing license and appears to have had a real estate license that expired in 2023, according to Texas Real Estate Commission Records.
He also had prior brushes with the law, including theft and driving without a license. Court records show Jabbar was charged with infractions including a misdemeanor theft charge in 2002 and driving with an invalid license in 2005.
A Navy spokesperson confirmed to CBS News that Jabbar enlisted on Aug. 12, 2004, in the Navy Recruiting District Houston and was discharged from the Delayed Entry Program one month later.
He then served in the U.S. Army from March 2007 until January 2015 as a human resource specialist and information technology specialist, an Army spokesperson confirmed to CBS News. Jabbar was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.
After Jabbar finished active military duty he was an information technology specialist in the Army Reserves from 2015 until 2020. He ended his service with the rank of staff sergeant, the Army said.
Jabbar was married twice. Court records show his first marriage ended in 2012. He married again in 2017 before divorcing in 2022.
He may have been experiencing financial difficulties, court records filed as part of his second divorce show. A pay stub from 2022 shows that Jabbar was earning about $125,000 annually from his job at Deloitte. The company confirmed he was had worked in “staff-level role since being hired in 2021.” Jabbar said in court filings that his monthly expenses, including child support for two children from his first marriage, exceed his income. He also disclosed more than $40,000 in credit card debt and said the real estate company he founded was losing money.
In a separate filing, his second wife accused him of financial mismanagement, alleging that he engaged in “excessive cash withdrawals,” “unnecessary and unreasonable spending,” and the “accumulation of debt,” along with providing gifts to romantic partners.
During those divorce proceedings, Jabbar’s second wife, with whom he shared one child, obtained a temporary restraining order against him, forbidding him from sending threatening messages to his wife or causing injury to their child.
Was the Bourbon Street attacker acting alone?
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible,” FBI special agent Alethea Duncan said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference, asking for the public’s help to provide photos, videos or any other information connected to Jabbar.
The FBI said the agency is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
A person familiar with the investigation told CBS News that as of midday Wednesday, neither ISIS nor any other foreign terror organization had claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We still know very little other than we do believe that there are multiple people that were involved and working with the driver of the vehicle,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told “CBS Mornings” on Thursday.
Asked why investigators believe this, Murrill said, “Well, we had some information yesterday about the placement of the IEDs and the timing of the placement of the IEDs. There was a house fire early in the morning but later than the timing of the event at 3 in the morning, and so we have good reason to believe that there were multiple people that were involved.”
President Biden said Wednesday evening that law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating whether there were any connections between the New Orleans attack and the explosion of a Cybertruck outside the Trump Towers hotel in Las Vegas later that morning, but “thus far there’s nothing to report.”
In addition to their timing on New Year’s Day, both incidents involved trucks rented from the carsharing app Turo. Both involved U.S.-born military servicemen who served in Afghanistan around the same time.
In a statement, a Turo spokesperson said: “We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents. We do not believe that either renter involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.”
What we know about the victims of the New Orleans attack
The city initially confirmed at least 10 people were killed, but the coroner and FBI later said the death toll had risen to 15 killed in the attack. Dozens of people were transported to area hospitals with injuries. Kirkpatrick said at least 35 people were hospitalized.
Details about some of the victims began to emerge in the hours after the attack.
St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana, confirmed that 2015 graduate Tiger Bech is one of the victims of the Bourbon Street attack. “Tiger was a 2015 graduate and standout in football, lacrosse, and track and field,” the school said. A football star, Bech, 28, attended Princeton University on scholarship and twice earned All-Ivy League honors as a return specialist, CBS Sports reported.
A University of Georgia student was injured in the attack, the school confirmed. “We have learned that a University of Georgia student was critically injured in the attack and is receiving medical treatment,” the university’s president Jere W. Morehead said on social media.
Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said two Mexican citizens are among the injured. Two Israeli citizens were also injured in the attack, according to a post from Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on social media.
Robert Legare,
,
Pat Milton,
Nicole Sganga,
Eleanor Watson,
Anna Schecter,
and
Kati Weis
contributed to this report.
