The terrorist who killed 15 people by driving his truck into a crowded section of Bourbon Street in New Orleans was an US-born military veteran. He had been living in a dilapidated trailer park, where he kept sheep and goats in the yard, just a few blocks from the local mosque.
Authorities said that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, from Houston, had an ISIS flag attached to the rented Ford F-150 Lightning EV truck he used to carry out a pre-planned terrorist attack on New Year’s Day. Jabbar went from success to living in a rundown trailer park in Houston, where sheep wandered around his yard, according to the New York Post.
From a Successful Army Man to a Miserable Life
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Jabbar served in the Army for over a decade and was deployed to Afghanistan prior to carrying out his ISIS-inspired attack on Wednesday, according to his military records. As an IT specialist, he was stationed in Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, as detailed in the service branch’s summary of his military experience.
Jabbar was on active duty from March 2007 to January 2015 and then as a reservist from January 2015 until July 2020.
He retired from the military with the rank of staff sergeant, as stated by the Army.
In a 2020 YouTube video promoting his real estate business, a well-groomed Jabbar presented himself as a dependable, trustworthy native Texan who had served 10 years in the military, which he said taught him “the meaning of great service.”
However, at the time of his deadly terror attack — one of the deadliest since 9/11 — Jabbar was living in a run-down trailer park on the outskirts of Houston, primarily inhabited by Muslim immigrants.
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When The New York Post visited hours after the attack, geese, chickens, and sheep were seen roaming freely in Jabbar’s yard.
One neighbor told the outlet that she only spoke Urdu, the national language of Pakistan. The neighborhood is also located within walking distance of the local mosque, Masjid Bilal, although no one responded to calls on Wednesday.
According to law enforcement sources, they found videos made by Jabbar in which he made reference to the Quran, the sacred text of Islam.
Staunch Muslim’s Motive Unclear
Officials told The New York Post that Jabbar traveled to Egypt for 10 days last year. By mid-afternoon, federal agents arrived. A large presence of police vehicles, including an armored military-style truck, flooded the neighborhood.
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“[He was] pretty quiet…Just walking, [he would say] ‘hello,’ ‘hola,’ and that was it,” Venegas said.
Jabbar had been arrested twice: first in Katy, Texas, in 2002 for theft, according to court records, and again three years later for driving without a valid license, as reported by The New York Times.
He had also gone through two divorces, and these failed marriages seemingly led to his financial downfall.
In 2012, Jabbar’s first wife filed a lawsuit for child support payments, court records reveal.
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During his second divorce in 2022, he revealed to his ex-wife’s attorney via email that he had racked up over $16,000 in credit card debt due to court fees and expenses for a second home. “I cannot afford the house payment,” he wrote.
He also mentioned that his real estate business had incurred over $28,000 in losses the previous year.
Jabbar’s first wife, Nakedra Jabbar, has since remarried, and she, along with her new husband, is working with investigators, according to her father-in-law, Nelson Marsh Sr., the outlet reported.
