NEW ORLEANS, La. — Five videos that the FBI says Shamsud-Din Jabbar posted to his Facebook account as he was driving from Houston to New Orleans offer insight into the mind of a man hours away from taking 14 people’s lives.
“He posted several videos to an online platform proclaiming his support for ISIS,” Christopher Raia the Deputy Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism division said.
The FBI says it learned Jabbar’s original plan was to kill his family and friends.
“In the first video, Jabbar explains he was originally planning to hurt his family and friends but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the believers and the disbelievers,” Raia said.
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Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln has been digging into Jabbar’s background and discovered financial troubles and messy divorce settlements.
His most recent divorce included a year-long fight with his ex-wife over financial difficulties. Jabbar acknowledged in Texas court documents from Fort Bend County that he couldn’t afford his mortgage because he was behind more than $27,000 in 2022.
Documents also indicate he was ordered to pay more than $3,500 in child support for his three children from his first and third marriages.
Jabbar also had ties here to Georgia. He married his second wife in 2013 in Dekalb County. Court documents show they got a divorce in 2016, citing the marriage was irretrievably broken.
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The two lived in Cobb County for one year before separating. Georgia State University confirmed with Channel 2 Action News that Jabbar was a student for two years, graduating in 2017 with a degree in computer information systems.
As a student, the army veteran was interviewed as part of the university’s newspaper about his struggles adjusting to civilian life after service. Former Georgia State University classmate Sean Keenan did that interview. He told CNN he was shocked to learn Jabbar was responsible for this terrorist attack.
“What very little I remember about that interview was a cool, calm, collected guy, nothing about his character threw any red flags,” Keenan said.
Lincoln went by former properties of Jabbar’s in Cobb County and DeKalb County. No one at either location said they knew Jabbar.
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