Who is Bourbon st terrorist, Shamsud Din Jabbar? From decorated US military serviceman to failed real estate entrepreneur mired in debt and with 2 failed marriages and who lived in squalor and had seemingly become radicalized by ISIS and extreme Muslim ideology.
The SUV driver who killed 15 people when he plowed his truck down crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans and injured a further 35 was a decorated American-born military veteran who was living in a run-down trailer park in Houston, Texas.
Authorities say Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, had an ISIS flag strapped to the rented Ford F-150 Lightning EV truck he used to carry out an act of premeditated act of terror on New Year’s Day.
Shamsud Din Jabbar was a US-born military veteran who went from success to living in a squalid Houston trailer park after two failed marriages left him in debt along with a failed career as a real estate agent.
Decorated military vet
He served in the Army for more than a decade and deployed to Afghanistan before he carried out his ISIS-inspired attack on Wednesday, according to his service record.
Working as an IT specialist, he was stationed in Afghanistan from February 2009 until January 2010, the service branch said in a summary of military experience.
Jabbar served active duty from March 2007 until January 2015 and was a reservist from January 2015 until July 2020.
He left the service at the rank of staff sergeant, according to the Army.
The New York Times reported that he had been awarded a number of medals for good conduct and achievement, as well as for completing parachute jump school.
But seemingly life appeared to markedly go downhill for Jabbar after having left the army.
Failed real estate entrepreneur in debt
In a YouTube video he posted in 2020 (since removed) for his real estate business, a clean-cut Jabbar described himself as a reliable, trustworthy native Texan who spent 10 years in the military, which taught him ‘the meaning of great service.’
But when he alledly carried out the Bourbon st terror attack — one of the deadliest since 9/11, which led to 15 killed and at least 35 injured — Jabbar lived in a squalid trailer park on the outskirts of Houston that is home to mostly Muslim immigrants.
Geese, chickens, and sheep roamed freely in Jabbar’s yard accord to the nypost with the outlet visiting the man’s residence hours after the attack.
During a raid of the property, law enforcement sources told the outlet that they found videos Jabbar made where he referenced the Quran — Islam’s holy text.
Of note, Jabbab’s residence is within walking distance of the local mosque, Masjid Bilal. What role the religious facility may have played, if any, in what appears to be the radicalization of Jabbab remained unclear.
It was further revealed that Jabbar had traveled to Egypt for 10 days last year.
Radicalization of Bourbon st terrorist?
The brother of Shamsud-Din Bahar told The New York Times that his brother was a caring man.
Abdur Jabbar, 24, of Beaumont, Texas, told the outlet: ‘[He was] a sweethear really, a nice guy, a friend, really smart, caring.’
He said that his brother had converted to Islam at a young age, and that ‘what he did does not represent Islam. This is more some type of radicalization, not religion’.
Speaking to some of Jabbab’s neighbbors, little was known about him, with one local, Francois Venegas describing Jabbar as a ‘simple person’ who kept to himself, though they would occasionally exchange words on the street.
Jabbar had been arrested twice: Once in Katy, Texas, for theft in 2002, court records show, and again three years later for driving without a valid license, the New York Times reported.
He had also been divorced twice, and the failed marriages apparently left him in financial ruin.
Jabbar’s first wife sued him for child support payments in 2012, court records show.
Amid his second divorce in 2022, he said he had racked up more than $16,000 in credit card debt paying court fees and expenses for a second home, according to an email to his ex-wife’s lawyer viewed by the Times.
‘I cannot afford the house payment,’ he wrote.
He added that his real estate business suffered more than $28,000 in losses the previous year.
His first wife, Nakedra Jabbar, has since remarried, and she and her new husband were cooperating with investigators.
