New Orleans terrorist Shamsud Din Jabbar was radicalized by ISIS online “within a few weeks,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
Jabbar plowed his rented Ford F-150 truck into a crowd celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street around 3:15 a.m. on January 1, killing 14 civilians. He then started firing at the police, who also fired back, killing the gunman.
”[H]e seems to have taken inspiration from ISIS from afar. And this is in many ways the most difficult type of terrorist threat that we face,” Ray said. “60 minutes” He spoke in a wide-ranging interview that aired Sunday. “You're talking about guys like this who get radicalized in weeks, not years, and whose attack methods, while still very deadly, are pretty crude. If you think about the old adage of tying, there's not much to do. There are so many points to connect, but so little time to connect them. ”
The FBI noted earlier this month that Jabbar, 42, traveled to Cairo, Egypt, from June 22 to July 3, 2023, and then returned to the United States. He also announced that on another trip on July 10, 2023, he traveled to Ontario, Canada, and returned home. I will be leaving for America in a few days.
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Shamsuddin Jabbar, who was killed in a shootout with police responding to a pickup truck attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, is pictured in an undated photo released by the FBI. (FBI)
Records show the Texas native was a twice-divorced military veteran with a history of financial struggles and child support arrears despite a well-paying job at a major consulting firm. It has become.
Prior to the New Orleans attack, he visited New Orleans twice, in October and November. Months before carrying out the deadly attack, he used meta smart glasses to capture video of his surroundings while riding his bicycle through the French Quarter.
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Christopher Wray will step down as FBI director as President-elect Donald Trump takes office for a second term. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
On Dec. 31, Jabbar rented a Ford truck in Houston and drove to New Orleans, where he checked into an AirBnb. Authorities later found bomb-making materials and the remains of a fire on the property, suggesting that Jabbour may have tried to cover up the crime by burning evidence at a rental home in the St. Roch neighborhood, about three miles from the French Quarter. said that it was high.
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“It's clear so far that this man was radicalized online and was determined to kill as many innocent people as possible in the name of ISIS,” Wray said in an interview on “60 Minutes.” ” he said.
Investigators are investigating the scene after someone drove a car into a crowd at Canal Street and Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
He added that this type of lone wolf threat is becoming more common in the United States.
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“We had a Pakistani national, and just a few months ago, we worked with our Canadian partners to arrest him,” Ray told host Scott Pelley. This man entered the United States, entered New York City, and was planning to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn. …In his words, he wanted to carry out the largest attack on the United States since 9/11. ”
The FBI continues to investigate the attack, and although Jabbar apparently acted alone, authorities said they are still investigating whether Jabbar had accomplices.
FOX News' Michael Lewis contributed to this report.
