Jabbar, 47, of Beaumont, Texas: A homeless man who served 10 years in the Army and has been discharged from the Army
A review of the Texas Secretary of State Records by the Texas Newsroom found that Jabbar had started a handful of realty businesses in Texas. Two of them went out of business in recent years.
In a now-removed YouTube video for one of the businesses posted four years ago, Jabbar says he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and spent all his life in the state except for his time in the military.
He said that he learned the meaning of great service in his 10 years in the military and was supposed to be responsive and make sure everything went smoothly.
A spokesman for the Georgia State University said that the man graduated with a degree in computer information systems.
A state of emergency has been declared by the governor of Louisiana and a military police unit has been dispatched to New Orleans to assist with security.
“With law enforcement assets that would typically be allocated to an event of this stature currently engaged in active investigations related to the incident, the postponement will allow for additional security resources to be put in place in order to maintain the typical standards of a major event in the Caesars Superdome,” the Sugar Bowl said in a statement Wednesday night.
The FBI said on social media Thursday that there was no threat to the residents of the area after they finished their search of the house. The Texas Newsroom reported that a neighbor, who didn’t know Jabbar by name, described the suspect as quiet and their interactions as normal.
The FBI said that he was a U.S. citizen who had been discharged from the Army. An Army spokesperson confirmed to NPR that Jabbar served as a Human Resource Specialist and Information Technology Specialist from March 2007 until January 2015 and then in the Army Reserve as an IT Specialist until July 2020. In February 2009, he deployed to Afghanistan where he served for about 11 months. He left the service with the rank of Staff Sergeant.
Duncan said that authorities are looking into the possibility of ties between the man and terrorist organizations. The Islamic State does not claim responsibility for the attack.
Jabbar rented the white Ford truck on Dec. 30 and was seen driving it in Houston before heading to New Orleans, said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of state.
New Orleans Police say the man behind the attack on a superhigh-traffic Cybertruck was killed in a swarm of people on Bourbon Street
Christopher Raia, an FBI deputy assistant director with the agency’s counterterrorism division told reporters that they do not think anyone else is involved in the attack.
Biden said law enforcement officials are looking into if the incident is connected to the Cybertruck that exploded outside of Trump’s Las Vegas hotel. One person died and seven others were injured in the explosion.
A truck plowed into a crowd on New Orleans’ famed Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day, leaving at least 15 people dead and dozens more hospitalized with injuries.
The driver of the vehicle was a military veteran from Houston, Texas, according to the FBI. Authorities are investigating the incident as terrorism and he was killed in a shooting exchange with police.
The FBI said that there was a flag of the Islamic State and IEDs inside the truck, but they haven’t said a reason for it. The driver probably didn’t act alone, and the FBI is looking for information that could lead to other people who aided in the attack.
Weapons and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device was found inside the truck, according to the federal agency. Investigators found and neutralized other IEDs in the French Quarter. Authorities said they swept the French Quarter, parts of the Central Business District and the Caesars Superdome — where the now-delayed Sugar Bowl will be held — looking for additional improvised explosive devices.
Bourbon Street is a 13 block stretch of the French Quarter that is crowded at night with people who go to bars, restaurants and music venues. The number of visitors to New Orleans this week swelled as revelers flocked to the popular destination for New Year’s Eve celebrations, and ahead of the Sugar Bowl.
The suspect sped around a police vehicle blocking the intersection of Canal and Bourbon and onto the sidewalk before coming back onto Bourbon, police said.
Police have said that around 3:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Jabbar veered around a police vehicle blocking the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets, speeding onto the sidewalk before steering back onto Bourbon. He continued for nearly three blocks down Bourbon Street, crossing Iberville Street and Bienville Street, and then crashing just before Conti Street. Two police officers were injured by the gunfire from the pickup that Jabbar exited. The injured officers are in stable condition, police said in a Wednesday morning news briefing.
The suspect drove down Bourbon Street at “a very fast pace” and tried to “run over as many people as he possibly could,” New Orleans police chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a Wednesday morning news conference. She said that this was intentional.
Entry to Bourbon Street is usually blocked off to vehicle traffic by metal bollards — pole-like barricades. But the bollards were down for maintenance at the time of the attack, with their repair “near completion,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. The police car that the suspect bypassed was serving as a makeshift roadblock for vehicles trying to enter the French Quarter’s busiest street.
New Orleans — The New Orleans Truck Attack: The Case for the ISIS-Informed Coalition against the Terrorists in Houston and the “Disbelievers”
Raia said that investigators were combing through five electronic devices and there was nothing that indicated that he was aided in this attack by anyone.
Raia says the driver rented a white F-150 in Houston on Monday and traveled to New Orleans on Tuesday. Jabbar posted “several videos” to social media declaring his support for ISIS and explained that while he planned to hurt his family and friends he was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the “war between the believers and the disbelievers,” Raia said. The man said that he joined the group during the summer of 2024.
Bourbon Street, which has been closed due to authorities investigating, was reopened to the public on Thursday. Fourteen yellow roses have been placed on the sidewalk near Canal Street as a makeshift memorial for each of those killed in the speeding rampage.
The governor told reporters that officials reinforced the area and put more assets in place for the game.
“I don’t like to give specifics because I don’t like to tell the enemy what we got,” he said. “We are in a lot better shape than we were before,” said the man. There is a lot of law enforcement resources being used to finish the investigation.
New Orleans Cybertruck Attack and Cybertruck Explosion on Wednesday, March 7 : No Decay-Inclusive Link for the Cybertruck
Raia said said there is currently “no definitive link” between the attack in New Orleans and a Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas in front of the Trump Hotel on Wednesday, in which the suspect was killed inside the vehicle.