New Orleans truck attacker identified as Army veteran from Texas who declared support for ISIS, officials say
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.-born citizen from Texas, the FBI said. He was a U.S. Army veteran who lived in Houston. The FBI said he posted several videos before the attack proclaiming his support for ISIS.
Officials say at least 14 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. The FBI initially said that 15 people, excluding the driver, died in the attack. The number was revised by the New Orleans coroner's office on Thursday to say that the figure included the attacker.
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 called the attack an act of terrorism. Officials initially said they were investigating the possibility others may have been involved, but on Thursday the FBI said there do not appear to have been any accomplices.
"We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack other than Shamsud-Din Jabbar," Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterintelligence division, said at a briefing Thursday.
He also said Jabbar stated in a post on Facebook that he had joined ISIS last summer. Shortly before the attack, "he posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS," Raia said.
The House Homeland Security Committee and other members of Congress received an FBI briefing on the investigation Thursday. The FBI confirmed that to date, the agency has not found any evidence that Jabbar had any co-conspirators or was directed by a foreign actor or terrorist organization, but said the attack was inspired by ISIS, a committee aide told CBS News.
Jabbar was not on any federal government watchlists, the aide said.
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 14 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. They were released from the hospital on Thursday.
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.
Kirkpatrick said Jabbar drove around the barriers, bypassing patrol cars 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.
An ISIS flag was found on the trailer hitch of the vehicle, the FBI said.
Raia said it's not clear why Jabbar chose to attack Bourbon Street.
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. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that the suspect had an AR-15 style weapon and a handgun with him at the time of the attack.
Raia said Thursday that two improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, were found in the French Quarter. Both devices were active and were found in coolers near intersections in the area. Both were "rendered safe" where they were found, he said. A person familiar with the investigation told CBS News that the devices were rudimentary pipe bombs that contained shrapnel including nails, screws and tacks.
Surveillance footage showed Jabbar placing the devices where they were found, Raia said. Raia said that investigators found two other items of interest that were determined not to be IEDs; he said there have been reports of other devices, but said those reports were incorrect or were for non-functioning devices.
"We do not believe the public is in any danger around any of these locations," Raia 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.
Federal investigators searched the Airbnb location and detonated materials concerning to them at the location Wednesday afternoon, law enforcement officials told CBS News.
Three cell phones and two laptops have been recovered, Raia said. Investigators are still examining those devices.
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 Reserve. The FBI said Thursday that it had conducted a "court-authorized search" at his home in Houston and cleared the area, and said there was no threat to residents.
Federal investigators found materials in the Houston home that could be used for bombmaking, law enforcement officials told CBS News. They took inventory of the materials and returned the house back to its owner.
Jabbar rented a Ford electric pickup truck in Houston from the peer-to-peer rental app Turo, which he picked up on Dec. 30, 2024, and drove to New Orleans on Dec. 31, Raia said.
Before the attack, Raia said, Jabbar posted multiple videos to social media where he declared his support for ISIS.
In one of those videos, he said he had planned to attack family and friends, but "was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the quote, 'war between the believers and the disbelievers,' end quote," Raia said.
Jabbar's younger brother, Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, told CBS News that in the year leading up to the attack, his brother seemed to grow increasingly devout. He observed changes in Jabbar's lifestyle, noting that he adopted more modest attire, removed his tattoos and gave up alcohol.
Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said none of the changes seemed concerning and he saw no indication that his brother was being radicalized.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar had posted audio recordings online in early 2024 expressing his religious beliefs and describing music as the "voice of Satan." However, he made no mention of plans for violence or affiliations with extremist groups.
Eleven months prior to the attack, Jabbar posted three recordings on SoundCloud, including a recitation from the Quran and a separate message warning that music could draw people toward "forbidden" behaviors such as using marijuana, consuming alcohol and engaging in violence.
In a 2020 YouTube video that appears to have been posted by Jabbar, he 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 driving under the influence, theft and driving without a license. Jabbar was charged with driving under the influence in 2014 while he was in the U.S. Army in North Carolina, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to the DUI charge in 2015, according to the records. Jabbar's North Carolina driver's license was revoked, and he was ordered to serve 12 months of probation, complete 24 hours of community service, undergo a substance abuse assessment and treatment and pay a $200 fine.
Court records also 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 served in the 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. He received a number of awards while serving, including four Army Achievement Medals, a National Defense Service Medal, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and two Army Good Conduct Medals, along with several others, according to the Army.
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 three times, according to court records. His first marriage ended in 2012, with his ex-wife gaining custody of their two children. Jabbar was ordered to pay child support. He married again in 2013, then filed for divorce in 2016. He married his third wife in 2017, and the couple divorced in 2022.
He may have been experiencing financial difficulties, court records filed as part of his third 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 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 then-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 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?
Early in the investigation, the FBI said it was looking into whether others were involved and asked for the public's help to provide photos, videos or any other information connected to Jabbar. But Thursday, the FBI said it now appears no one else was involved other than 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.
Asked earlier why investigators had suspected the involvement of others, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told "CBS Mornings": "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 International Hotel in Las Vegas later that morning, but "thus far there's nothing to report."
The FBI's Raia said Thursday, "At this point there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas."
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 timeframe. But two U.S. officials say the military has not yet found any overlap between them at either Fort Bragg or in Afghanistan. They both served there, these officials say, but not at 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 names of 13 of the 14 victims have been released by the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office. The name of one victim, a Black female, remains unknown, and efforts to identify her are "ongoing," the coroner's office said.
The names publicly released so far are:
- Kareem Badawi, 23, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- Brandon Taylor, 43, of Harvey, Louisiana.
- Hubert Gauthreaux, 21, of Gretna, Louisiana.
- Matthew Tenedorio, 25, of Picayune, Mississippi.
- Nikyra Dedeaux, 18, of Gulfport, Mississippi.
- Nicole Perez, 27, of Metairie, Louisiana.
- Reggie Hunter, 37, of Prairieville, Louisiana.
- Martin Bech, 27, of New York City.
- Terrence Kennedy, 63, of New Orleans.
- Elliot Wilkinson, 40, of Slidell, Louisiana.
- William DiMaio, 25, of Holmdel, New Jersey.
- Andrew Dauphin, 26, of Montgomery, Alabama.
- Edward Pettifer, 31, of London.
The victims include a former Princeton football star, an aspiring nurse, a loving dad — read more about them here.
In addition to the fatalities, dozens of people were taken to area hospitals with injuries. Kirkpatrick said at least 35 people were hospitalized.
A University of Georgia student was among those 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 were 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.
