The suspect in the deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans, 42-year-old Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was confirmed by the FBI to have made chilling recordings where he expressed his support for ISIS and threatened to kill his family before carrying out the massacre. These disturbing videos, recorded prior to the attack, show Jabbar discussing his plans to harm his family, as well as his motivations tied to ISIS.
The attack, which took place around 3:15 a.m. on January 1, ended in tragedy when Jabbar drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing at least 14 people and injuring over 30 others. Jabbar was shot and killed by police after a confrontation in which he fired at officers, injuring two.
The FBI’s investigation revealed that Jabbar had planted two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in coolers in the area before driving into the crowd. An ISIS flag was also found in his truck. Despite initial reports suggesting a connection between this attack and a blast in Las Vegas, the FBI confirmed there was no definitive link and that Jabbar acted alone.
Jabbar had a history of service in the U.S. military, but his later actions were driven by extremist ideology. According to the FBI, Jabbar had expressed his desire to join ISIS earlier in 2023 and was “100 percent inspired by ISIS” when carrying out the attack.
