The brother of the suspected terrorist accused of ramming a truck through crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans discussed his brother’s religious background in a recent interview and said the attack was an example of “radicalization.”
Abdur Jabbar, 24, spoke to The New York Times in Beaumont, Texas, where he and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, grew up, saying they were raised Christian, but the now-deceased suspect had converted to Islam.
“As far as I know, he was a Muslim for most of his life,” the brother told the Times.
“What he did does not represent Islam,” he added. “This is more some type of radicalization, not religion.”
The FBI said Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old U.S. citizen from Texas, drove a rented Ford pick-up truck laden with an ISIS flag, weapons and a potential improvised explosive device (IED) into a crowd of New Year’s revelers at approximately 3:15 a.m. local time Wednesday, killing at least 15 and injuring more than 30 others. Authorities said other potential IEDs were also located in the French Quarter.
Authorities say Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. Army veteran who recently held a six-figure job, opened fire on law enforcement officers, who returned fire, and was declared dead at the scene.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar at one point was stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and deployed once to Afghanistan, the Times reported, citing court documents.
The U.S. Army said Shamsud-Din Jabbar worked mostly as an information technology specialist and was discharged from the Army Reserve in 2020 with the rank of staff sergeant.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar had been married and divorced twice. He shared two daughters, ages 15 and 20, with his first wife, Nakedra Charrlle Marsh, the Times reported.
Her new husband, Dwayne Marsh, said Shamsud-Din Jabbar had been acting erratically in recent months, “being all crazy, cutting his hair” after converting to Islam, and that they stopped letting him around the daughters.
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Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s brother said the suspect was also the father to a 6-year-old son.
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