New Orleans terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar pledged allegiance to ISIS in chilling Facebook videos recorded just hours before attack
The ISIS-inspired terrorist who mowed down a crowd of New Year’s Eve revelers on Bourbon Street drove from Houston to New Orleans recording deranged Facebook videos confessing his thirst to kill and pledging allegiance to the Islamic terror group.In the first disturbing video — posted at 1:29 a.m.— Shamsud-Din Jabbar said he had initially planned on murdering his family and friends, but changed his mind over concerns the resulting media coverage wouldn’t focus on the “war between the believers and disbelievers,” FBI counterterrorism official Chris Raia said Thursday.Hoping to manipulate the press response to better comport with his twisted narrative, the cowardly killer instead set his sights on the Big Easy.
Jabbar — who began his career in the US Army and worked a lucrative job as a corporate consultant before turning to radical Islam — recorded five similar rants over the 350-mile journey, which ended in a trail of carnage along the historic thoroughfare and hail of bullets in a gun battle with law enforcement.Investigators have confirmed Jabbar, 42, was ideologically aligned with ISIS — saying he joined the terror group “before this summer” — and that he specifically chose Bourbon Street as the target of his monstrous act of terror.However, they have yet to piece together what precisely brought about his radicalization.
In another video, he provided his last will and testament.He was on a legitimate career path until apparently falling on hard times both personally and financially.He contended with two failed marriages and faced mounting debt before he murdered 14 innocent pedestrians and injured dozens more with an explosive-laden Ford F-150 truck bearing the black flag of the jihadist group.Born in Texas, Jabbar joined the Army in 2006, serving at bases in Alaska and North Carolina before being deployed to Afghanistan in 2009, where he served for 11 months, the Wall Street Journal reported.Although it isn’t believed he served in a c...