(Reuters) – Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the 42-year-old Texas man accused of crashing a truck into New Yr’s Day revelers in New Orleans, killing and injuring dozens of individuals, was a U.S. Military veteran who later labored in actual property, based on officers and public information.
Federal officers and native legislation enforcement in New Orleans say that Jabbar didn’t act alone and that they’re in search of accomplices. The FBI mentioned Jabbar had an Islamic State flag on his truck and look at the assault as a possible act of terrorism. The Islamic State, or ISIS, is a Sunni Muslim militant group which has carried out assaults all through the world.
Whereas the investigation is ongoing, to date no data has surfaced to clarify why Jabbar, a U.S. citizen raised in Texas, would perform the New Orleans assault. Jabbar died on the scene in a shootout with police, officers mentioned.
Jabbar was a veteran of the U.S. Military from which he seems to have been honorably discharged, FBI Assistant Particular Agent in Cost Alethea Duncan advised a briefing on Wednesday. Along with serving within the Military, Jabbar enlisted within the Navy in August 2004 underneath a delayed entry program however was discharged a month later, a Navy official advised Reuters.
In a promotional video for his actual property enterprise posted to YouTube in 2020, a person by the identical identify because the suspect mentioned he served within the army for 10 years as a human assets and IT specialist, studying the significance of nice service and taking every thing severely.
“I’ve taken those skills and applied them to my career as a real estate agent, where I feel like what really sets me apart from other agents is my ability to be able to one be a fierce negotiator,” he mentioned, encouraging purchasers to present him a name.
Within the video, the person launched himself as a supervisor at Blue Meadow Properties LLC, a Texas-based firm whose license expired in 2022. He was registered as an actual property gross sales agent for 4 years by February 2023, information present.
He mentioned he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas.
Reuters was unable to succeed in anybody on the quantity supplied by Jabbar within the video. Makes an attempt to contact Jabbar’s relations have been additionally unsuccessful.
The FBI believes Jabbar rented the Ford (NYSE:) pickup truck he used to ram into the gang in New Orleans’ French Quarter within the early hours of Wednesday. Jabbar then opened fireplace on police, injuring 35 along with the at the least 10 individuals who have died.
The ISIS flag on the truck prompted an investigation into potential hyperlinks to terrorist organizations. Investigators discovered weapons and a possible explosive machine within the car, in addition to different potential explosive units within the French Quarter.
“We do not believe that Jabbar was solely responsible. We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates,” Duncan mentioned.
(reporting by Nathan Layne in West Palm Seaside, Florida; Extra reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Modifying by Alistair Bell)
