An act of terrorism

Pulling together the pieces of a puzzle that created a homegrown extremist

A shocking act leaves many questions

We all woke to the shocking news on New Year’s morning that a truck had raced down a three block stretch of Bourbon Street in New Orleans at 3:15 AM mowing down revelers before crashing.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove from Texas with murder on his mind and a plan.

After his high speed drive down the street he leaped out, and after a short gunfight with three police officers, was killed. Each hour of the day brought more heartbreaking news and revelations including the death toll climbing to 15, finding out he was an Army veteran, that there was an Islamic State style flag on the truck, and more.

In today’s news conference the FBI announced that they now believe he acted alone and that it was he who planted two explosive devices that never exploded as well.

The questions that linger and the answers we have are going to lead to a lot of people jumping to conclusions and making broad generalizations about every aspect of his life.

We are already seeing narratives form and conclusions being made today that are out of hand. Donald Trump immediately blamed the border and Fox falsely reported the truck had crossed over from Mexico two-days earlier. On the left many are saying it was because of his military service and I’ve even seen people say they think its a “MAGA false flag operation to impose martial law.”

I don’t have any answers. I’ve got lots of crumbs that look like a story but we may never know the entire truth.

But, I do know we have to avoid creating false narratives that fit our political agendas on both sides when we know from history that the simplest answer is often the right one: Perhaps he was a deeply troubled man who went off the rails in recent months and culminated in a violent act like so many others from school shooters to racist attackers that have checkered our nations recent history.

(Photo by Theron Sapp/Courtesy WVUE-TV)

What do we know so far?

Military career and early life

Needless to say Jabbar’s story is complicated. Here is what has come out in all of the sources I can find. Anything documented here has come from a properly sourced reputable media outlet and not internet rumors or unsourced social media posts.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar is 42-years old and was born and raised in the east Texas town of Beaumont. He lived in Houston for most of his adult life except while serving in the Army which included stints in Alaska and North Carolina.

He has a small criminal record in Houston including being charged with misdemeanor theft out of Harris County in 2002, for which he received deferred adjudication, according to court records after 9-months of community service. Records from Jefferson County, Texas say that in 2005 he was charged with driving with a suspended license.

He attempted to enlist in the Navy in 2004 but never shipped or began his training. Instead he joined the Army. 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.

After leaving active duty in January 2015, Jabbar served in the Army Reserve until July 2020, when he left service as a staff sergeant with an Honorable Discharge.

He served several years at Fort Liberty, then known as Fort Bragg. He attended classes at the on-post campus of Campbell University from 2012 to 2014 but did not get a degree from the school according to their spokesman. A 2013 picture from the 82nd Airborne’s Facebook page shows a soldier identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, working as an information technology specialist.

According to CNN, Jabbar pleaded guilty to DWI charges in North Carolina in 2015. He was placed on probation for 12 months and was also ordered to have a substance abuse assessment and treatment—and pay for it—in addition to participating in any other alcohol/drug rehabilitation program directed by the US Probation Office.

It’s more than likely that DWI was a part of his departure from active Army as it is often a career ending charge for non-commissioned officers.

CNN reports that “Jabbar received an associate degree from Central Texas College in 2010 and a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University in 2017, according to an online resume. Both degrees were related to computer science and information technology. He later worked in business development and data engineering at the consulting firms Deloitte and Accenture, according to the resume.”

He deployed to Afghanistan with the 25th Infantry Division. His Troop Commander during the deployment, Rich Groen, posted to Twitter that he was a good soldier who did his work with “care and precision.” He served in their S1 shop, which is the personnel section of an Army unit that handles pay, administrative management, and mail among other tasks. He was not a line combat trooper and its likely he probably only left the base for mail convoys or other administrative missions in support of the unit.

Post-military life

There are now reports that he did struggle with his post-military transition. In an interview he expressed frustration with his G.I. Bill paperwork. He did get his degree using the new G.I. Bill. Friends noticed he was more open about his Muslim faith online though not radical.

Jabbar’s personal life seemed to be full of even more challenges. I mentioned his arrests in Texas and his DWI in the military above. He also had two failed marriages. CNN reports, his first wife sued him in 2012 over child support soon after he filed for divorce, and the court ordered him to pay amounts that increased over the years as his income grew. The case was dismissed in 2022.

In 2020, a Texas judge granted Jabbar’s second wife a restraining order against him during their divorce case. The order mandated Jabbar to refrain from threats, physical harm, or other stipulated behavior against his ex-wife and either of their children. It required her to avoid the same behavior. In a court filing, Jabbar’s ex-wife stated the marriage had become “insupportable because of discord or a conflict of personalities.”

Professionally he had challenges as well. There are videos online from 2020 of him professional discussing his real estate business. He was licensed in several areas of the industry but records show his license would lapse in 2022.

He had remarried in 2017 but was divorced in 2022. During those proceedings he had sent an email to his ex-partner’s lawyer where he wrote that he could not make payments on the house they owned, saying at the time he was $27,000 behind in payments.

He went on to disclose that he was $16,000 in credit card debt and that the three businesses he founded were profitless, one of them losing $28,000. The records say that he's a father of three and was ultimately ordered to pay his last wife $1,353 a month in child support.

Professionally, his resume is impressive with ascendance at the big three consulting firms: Accenture, Ernst & Young and finally Deloitte.

It appears Jabbar joined Deloitte in 2021 and had just placed a standard ‘out of office’ not on his email. Deloitte hires many veterans and support numerous government contracts. Jabbar served in a "staff-level role" since being hired, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed to ABC News. His title at Deloitte was "senior solution specialist.” Multiple reports say his salary was $120,000 though I have not found a confirmation of that.

"We are shocked to learn of reports today that the individual identified as a suspect had any association with our firm," the Deloitte spokesperson said in a statement. "Like everyone, we are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing all we can to assist authorities in their investigation."

It appears things took a very dark turn in the last year or so. The New York Times reported that Dwayne Marsh, who is married to Jabbar’s ex-wife, said he had been acting erratically in recent months, “being all crazy, cutting his hair” after converting to Islam. Marsh said he and his wife stopped allowing the two daughters she shared with Mr. Jabbar, ages 15 and 20, to spend time with him.

The New York Post reported that he has been living in a trailer park on the outskirts of Houston. His yard had goats and chickens and most of the neighborhood is Muslim immigrants and it’s not far from the local mosque. Separately his brother reported that they had been raised Catholic but that his brother had converted to Islam many years ago when they were kids.

He only recently spoke to his brother on the phone and it was a normal call about their father’s health and physical therapy. They are all baffled.

There haven’t been any reports of a connection to a specific mosque although he did travel to Egypt for 10 days last year according to authorities.

Jabbar seen placing two bombs on Bourbon Street that did not explode (Reuters)

A senior law enforcement official also told the New York Times that Jabbar had posted several videos to his Facebook account Tuesday evening, apparently addressed to his family and recorded while he was driving, in which he “pledged allegiance to ISIS.”

Other reports have said he wanted to harm his family and friends but in the end decided to conduct this act of terror because he felt his act would be viewed incorrectly and not an attack that was “righteous.” The FBI are holding those tapes for now and they have not been release to the public.

Jumping to conclusions

How about if we don’t? As I mentioned above it is clear that everyone is leaping to their own conclusions and shaping them with their personal political and cultural axes to grind. I can’t open social media without a flood of sometimes crazy stuff.

I get it. But it hurts to see people blaming his veteran status and calling us brainwashed. The racism and bigotry of the right is no better.

What we do know is that 14 innocent people lost their lives and the man responsible is dead and acted alone. There will be a lot of questions to answer about how easily he was able to drive down a closed street and the bombs he planted.

For now these are the facts. A troubled man hurt people. I wish he had used his veterans benefits for therapy instead of doing this.

I will keep you posted as we learn more.