Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s high school friends knew him as “Sham” — a good student with a quiet disposition and a bright future. He went on to become a model soldier in the Army, where his work ethic and attitude impressed his commander during a tour in Afghanistan.
“He was a great soldier, someone who showed discipline and dedication,” the commander, Rich Groen, posted on social media.
But over the past few years, as Jabbar worked to climb the corporate ladder, his life began to deteriorate. He faced severe money problems and a third divorce. At some point, he fell under the sway of the Islamic State, the terrorist group known as ISIS.
On New Year’s Eve, Jabbar, 42, drove a rented truck from Houston to New Orleans, authorities said, posting videos online along the way in which he professed his support for ISIS. Once he reached Bourbon Street, he planted two improvised explosive devices and then got back into his truck and plowed into revelers, killing 14 before police shot and killed him in a gunbattle.
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In some ways, Jabbar, with his personal life and finances in shambles, fits the profile of those who experts say are most likely to turn to extremist groups to find meaning and a sense of purpose.
The attack has stunned and confused his friends and family members. How could someone so kind and unassuming, some have said in interviews and social media posts, end up carrying out such a heinous act of terrorism?
“It’s a complete surprise, a shock, to everyone,” Jabbar’s half-brother, Abdur-Rahim Jabbar IV, 24, said in an interview.
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“There weren’t any moments leading up to this that were apparent or red flags to show that he’s been radicalized or changed in any way from the loving brother and father and son that we all know,” he said.
Investigators are trying to identify Jabbar’s path to radicalization. At a news conference Thursday morning, law enforcement officials conceded that they had little insight into his transformation.
“A lot of questions we’re still asking ourselves,” said Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “What I can tell you right now is that he was 100% inspired by ISIS. We’re digging through more of the social media, more interviews, working with some of our other partners to ascertain a little bit more about that connection.”
‘Time is of the essence’
Jabbar grew up in Beaumont, a city in eastern Texas near the Louisiana border. He attended Central High School, where he was known for his polite, easygoing way and polished appearance. He tended to wear button-up shirts and polos, former classmates said.
“He was very grounded, reserved, quiet,” said Chris Pousson, who attended middle school and high school with Jabbar.
After he graduated in 2001, Jabbar sought to serve his country. He initially tried to enlist in the Navy in 2004, according to three U.S. defense officials, but he left after only a month. He then joined the Army, working as a human resource specialist and information technology specialist from 2007 to 2015.
His unit deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.
Groen, Jabbar’s commander, wrote on social media that he worked “quietly and professionally” as a human resources officer and mail clerk in Afghanistan, “ensuring the little things that kept us all connected to home were done with care and precision.”
“To think that the same individual who once embodied quiet professionalism could harbor so much hate, leading to such unspeakable atrocities, is incomprehensible and heartbreaking,” added Groen, who declined an interview request.
After his time in the military, Jabbar attended Georgia State University and majored in computer information systems, a university spokesperson said.
He was quoted in an article for the student newspaper in 2015 about the challenges military veterans face navigating college life.
“The culture isn’t too much different but once you get out of the military there’s so many different acronyms you’ve learned,” Jabbar said. “And as you transition out ... you don’t know how to speak without using these terms and you’re not sure what terms are used outside the military.”
He also said veterans have to be extremely diligent to ensure they receive payments through the GI Bill.
“It’s such a large agency,” he said, referring to the Department of Veterans Affairs. “You have to do your due diligence, make sure you have your paperwork together.”
Jabbar looked back fondly on his time in the service and encouraged his half-brother to follow in his footsteps.
“It set him straight,” Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said, referring to a period after high school when Jabbar was partying and had some minor run-ins with the law. “It gave him some discipline and grounded him.”
After he graduated in 2017, Jabbar tried his hand in real estate. In a promotional video posted to YouTube in 2020, he said his time in the military helped him learn “the meaning of great service and what it means to be responsive.”
But his real estate career was short-lived. He began working for the Deloitte consulting firm in 2021, a company spokesperson said.
By then, his life was already beginning to fray. He was in divorce proceedings with his third wife — his first marriage ended around 2012 and his second in 2016 — and in deep financial trouble, according to court records.
The company he formed, Blue Meadow Properties, lost $28,000 in 2021 and he had $16,000 in credit card debt, he wrote in an email to his then-wife’s attorney.
“Time is of the essence,” Jabbar wrote. “I cannot afford the house payment. It is past due in excess of $27,000 and in danger of foreclosure if we delay settling the divorce.”
Jabbar made about $58 an hour at Deloitte and worked 40 hours a week, taking home a net income of $7,876.70 a month, according to documents he filed with the court.
But his monthly expenses totaled around $9,000. In August 2022, he had only $2,012 in his bank accounts, according to the filings.
Despite his financial troubles, Jabbar still showed up for his family. His half-brother said that their father had a stroke in 2023 and that Jabbar frequently came by to help take care of him.
“He helped me bathe him, change him, feed him,” Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said.
‘Prays at home’
It remains unclear when Jabbar first became attracted to ISIS. His half-brother said that their father was Muslim and that Jabbar’s mother was Christian but converted when they married.
Jabbar was open about his Muslim faith. He made it clear that he wasn’t into drinking or partying, but he didn’t talk about it in a strident way, his half-brother said.
They rarely discussed religion, but the war in Gaza did come up in a conversation last year.
“He was upset about what’s happening in Palestine,” Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said. He remembered his brother saying “it was genocide on both sides.”
Jabbar seemed to become more devout after his most recent divorce, Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said, but he never discussed ISIS or any radical ideologies.
“He was trying to find himself,” he said.
Jabbar posted audio messages about Islam to a SoundCloud account in early 2024. In one titled “Satan’s Voice,” he describes music as the “voice of Satan.”
“It is a gentle, gradual luring into the things that God has made forbidden to us — the intoxicants like marijuana, alcohol, sedatives, opioids, stimulants and others,” he says. “Then there is the way that music entices us to elicit sex, vulgarity, violence, betrayal, arrogance, burglary, cheating.”
Pousson, his high school friend, said Jabbar frequently posted about his Islamic faith on Facebook but gave no hint of radicalization.
“It was always positive — peace be with you, uplifting type of stuff,” Pousson said. “Nothing that he posted online that I saw was negative.”
“I didn’t see this coming from a mile away,” he added.
One of Jabbar’s neighbors in Texas said he never saw him at the local mosque. “He says he prays at home,” said the neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous.
The neighbor said Jabbar was “nice” and “quiet” and largely kept to himself.
On the morning of New Year’s Eve, the neighbor said, he saw Jabbar loading a white truck outside his home. The neighbor went over to see whether he needed a hand, and Jabbar said he was moving to Louisiana.
“He said he got a job over there,” the neighbor recalled.
It was sometime on New Year’s Day that the neighbor learned Jabbar had traveled to New Orleans for a very different reason.
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