New Orleans truck attack suspect: What we know about Shamsud-Din Jabbar

NEW ORLEANS -- The man suspected of plowing a truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year's, killing 14 people and injuring 35 others, pledged his support to ISIS, the FBI said Thursday.

The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an Army veteran and U.S.-born citizen who lived in Houston, also died in the early Wednesday attack.

TAfter barreling through the crowd over a three-block stretch, the 42-year-old Jabbar allegedly got out of the truck wielding an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, officials said. Officers returned fire, killing him, police said. Two police officers were injured, authorities said.

Jabbar is believed to have acted alone, authorities said Thursday, calling the attack a premeditated "act of terrorism."

His half-brother Abdur Jabbar, 24 years old, called the news "shocking," telling ABC News on Thursday, "This is completely outside his character."

He described his brother as "one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet -- would not hurt a fly."

Abdur Jabbar said that he is the youngest of four brothers in the family, and Shamsud-Din Jabbar -- whom the family called Sham -- was the eldest.

"He was a human being," Abdur Jabbar said. "He was deep, thoughtful, funny, charismatic."

He also said that he was not aware of any extremism or radicalization from his brother, whom he believed to have been leading an "ordinary" life up until the incident in New Orleans.

"Maybe he was dealing with some mental health issues that I didn't know about that he didn't, you know, alert the family to," the younger brother said. "Maybe being isolated, you know, weighed in on him."

"I don't know," he added. "I can't imagine what would drive anybody to do anything like this."

"Our hearts and prayers and thoughts go out to those families and those who witnessed this tragedy," he said.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove from Houston to New Orleans on New Year's Eve and posted several videos online "proclaiming his support for ISIS," and mentioning he joined ISIS before this summer, Christopher Raia of the FBI said Thursday.

"There were five videos posted on Jabbar's Facebook account, which are time stamped beginning at 1:29 a.m. and the last at 3:02 a.m.," Raia said. "In the first video, Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the 'war between the believers and the disbelievers.'"

An ISIS flag was recovered from the back of the truck, Raia said.

Surveillance footage showed Jabbar placing two improvised explosive devices in coolers in the Bourbon Street area, Raia said. Those were the only devices recovered and both were rendered safe, he said.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar had a checkered marital history punctuated by multiple divorces and financial difficulty, according to court records reviewed by ABC News.

In a YouTube video posted in 2020, he said he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and spent a decade working in the U.S. military before becoming a realtor in the Houston area. His years in the military were spent working as a human resources and IT specialist, he said in the video, which has since been removed from YouTube.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar worked for Deloitte, serving in a staff-level role since 2021, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed to ABC News.

"Like everyone, we are outraged by this shameful and senseless act of violence and are doing all we can to assist authorities in their investigation," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar served in human resources and information technology roles in the Army from 2007 to 2015, during which he deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, an Army spokesperson confirmed to ABC News. He continued as an IT specialist in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020, the spokesperson said. His listed jobs were not direct combat roles.

He is believed to have been discharged honorably from the Army, though investigators are still looking into his military record, the FBI said.

The truck used in the attack, a Ford F-150 Lightning, was rented through the Turo app -- a car-sharing company, according to Rodrigo Diaz, the owner of the truck.

Diaz told ABC News he rented the truck to an individual through the app and is currently talking to the FBI.

Diaz's wife, Dora Diaz, told ABC News that she and her husband are devastated by the incident.

"We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards in risk management, thanks to our world-class trust and safety technologies and teams that include experienced former law enforcement professionals," a Turo spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

ABC News' Matt Seyler, Megan Christie, Jenny Wagnon Courts and Jared Kofsky contributed to this report.