At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured when a driver rammed a pickup truck into a crowd during New Year’s celebrations on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early on Wednesday morning. The FBI is investigating it as an “act of terrorism.”

• The FBI has identified the suspect as a 42-year-old Texas man and Army veteran. The FBI said the suspect, who was killed in a firefight with officers, had an ISIS flag in the vehicle at the time of the attack. The vehicle was rented through Turo, the company said.

• Multiple officials said the suspect made a series of video recordings before Wednesday’s attack where he said he joined ISIS.

• The attack in the popular French Quarter happened less than a mile from where The Sugar Bowl was to be hosted Wednesday. The annual college football game was postponed for 24 hours for public safety reasons, the bowl’s CEO said.

About the suspect 

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran from Texas, has been identified as the suspect who intentionally rammed a pickup truck into a large crowd on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street early in the morning on New Year’s Day, according to authorities. He was killed in a firefight with police after the crash.

Jabbar was born in Beaumont, Texas, he said in a 2020 YouTube video titled “Personal Introduction,” in which he pitched himself as a professional real estate agent based in Houston. Authorities said Jabbar is an Army veteran, though officials did not immediately confirm details about his service.

“We believe he was honorably discharged, but we are working through this process, figuring out all this information,” Alethea Duncan, FBI assistant special agent in charge, said during a news conference this afternoon.

An ISIS flag was found in the truck, the FBI confirmed. The agency said it is working to determine any potential associations with terrorist groups.

Jabbar, who held jobs in real estate and IT, had been struggling with financial troubles in recent years, court documents show. In a January 2022 email filed as part of his divorce case, he wrote he could not afford a payment on his house, which he said was more than $27,000 past due and “in danger of foreclosure” if his divorce settlement was further delayed.

He also said a business he formed lost about $28,000 in 2021 and he incurred approximately $16,000 in credit card debt, the court documents say.

The mother of two of Jabbar’s children sued him in Harris County, Texas, in 2012 over child support, court records show. The case was dismissed in 2022.

Jabbar’s education and licenses:

• 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. Georgia State University confirmed to CNN Jabbar attended from 2015 to 2017 and graduated with a bachelor’s of business administration in Computer Information Systems. Central Texas College did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
• Jabbar obtained a real estate license in 2019, and the license expired in 2023, according to records from the Texas Real Estate Commission. The records show he took a range of real estate classes on topics such as contract law and finance between 2018 and 2021.

Credit: CNN.com