Tragedy struck during the early hours of the new year in New Orleans. Around 3:15 in the, while tourists were out celebrating the new year and new beginnings, a man intentionally plowed through a crowd of people on Bourbon Street killing 14 people and injuring 35 others.
The attacker was identified as Shamsud-din-Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas and an army veteran. Jabbar pledged his support to ISIS and posted several videos online on his drive from Houston to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve proclaiming his support for the terrorist organization. “There were five videos posted on Jabbar’s Facebook account, which are time stamped beginning at 1:29 a.m. and the last at 3:02 a.m.,” Christopher Raia, the FBI deputy assistant director for the Counterterrorism Division, said. “In the first video, Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers.'”
The FBI reports that he planned the attack months beforehand and frequently visited New Orleans and the street he was going to drive through. They also noted that he set fire to an Airbnb in the St Roch neighborhood just about 1.5 miles away from the scene of the attack. He set fire to the house just around 15 minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day. Officials believe Jabbar wanted to burn the entire house down to remove any evidence of his crimes. He also constructed 2 improvised explosive devices or IEDs in coolers on Bourbon Street just shortly after attempting to burn the Airbnb down. Fortunately, neither of the bombs detonated because they simply did not have a detonator, showing his lack of knowledge and experience with explosive devices since he used a match to attempt to set off the bomb but did not succeed.
Jabbar also visited a gun store in Texas on December 31st then another business where he bought 2 coolers to use for the IEDs. He rented a 6,000-pound electric Ford F-150 pickup truck in Houston using the private vehicle renting website Turo and picked it up on December 30th. During the attack, he killed 14 people and shortly afterward got shot. His half-brother, Abdur Jabbar, called the news “shocking,” telling ABC News on Thursday, “This is completely outside his character.” He described his brother as “one of the nicest guys you’d ever meet — would not hurt a fly.”
Shamsud-Din Jabbar served in human resources and information technology roles in the Army from 2007 to 2015, during which he deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, an Army spokesperson confirmed to ABC News. Witnesses told CBS News reporter Kati Weis that a white truck crashed into people on Bourbon Street at high speed, and the driver then started firing a weapon from inside the vehicle, with police returning fire. Weis saw multiple people on the ground being treated for injuries near the intersection of Bourbon and Canal Streets. In a statement from the White House, President Biden said, “My heart goes out to the victims and their families who were simply trying to celebrate the holiday…There is no justification for violence of any kind, and we will not tolerate any attack on any of our nation’s communities.”
President-elect Donald Trump also acknowledged the attack in a post on TruthSocial. “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department,” Trump said, in part. Because of this horrific event, the Sugar Bowl college football playoff is postponed and currently, bomb sweeps are being collected at the Superdome. The stadium will be locked down until the game.
“New Orleans Truck Attack Suspect: What We Know About Shamsud-Din Jabbar.” https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-new-orleans-attack-bourbon-street/story?id=117247072, 2 Jan. 2025, abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-new-orleans-attack-bourbon-street/story?id=117247072. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.
“How The New Orleans Attack Was Planned.” CNN, 7 Jan. 2025, www.cnn.com/2025/01/07/us/new-orleans-truck-attack-suspect-planning/index.html. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.
