Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was inspired by ISIS, maintained a bomb-making workshop inside his dilapidated Texas trailer, with an open Quran placed on a page discussing “slaying” for Allah, as revealed by photos obtained by The NY Post.
Jabbar’s north Houston residence was filled with chemical residues and bottles, while the FBI’s inventory of materials seized from the property following a raid on Wednesday included an extensive list of bomb-making compounds.
His Quran was displayed on a bookshelf, serving as a focal point in the living room, open to a passage that reads, “they fight in Allah’s cause, and slay and are slain; a promise binding…”
This particular verse, 9:111, highlights the Muslim duty to kill those opposed to Allah, with the assurance of eternal paradise for those who die in this cause.
The home contained numerous books on Islam scattered across the area, and a prayer rug was also found rolled up nearby.
FBI officials disclosed on Thursday that Jabbar uploaded five alarming videos to Facebook during his drive from Houston to New Orleans, just hours before he carried out the deadly attack on Bourbon Street, which left 14 pedestrians dead.
In one of the disturbing videos — posted at 1:29 a.m. — the former U.S. Army veteran shared that he had initially planned to murder his family and friends. However, he changed his mind because he feared the media coverage would not emphasize the “war between the believers and disbelievers,” according to FBI counterterrorism expert Chris Raia.
In other videos, Jabbar claimed he had joined ISIS “before this summer” and showed his last will and testament.
Investigators confirmed that Jabbar, 42, was ideologically aligned with ISIS and deliberately chose Bourbon Street as the site for his deadly terror attack.
However, authorities have yet to determine the exact factors that contributed to his radicalization.
Jabbar, once an IT professional, appeared to be on a promising career trajectory before experiencing significant personal and financial hardships.
He endured two failed marriages and accumulated substantial debt before ultimately committing the attack, killing 14 pedestrians and injuring many others with an explosive-laden Ford F-150 truck adorned with the ISIS black flag.
Jabbar, a Texas native, enlisted in the Army in 2006, serving at bases in Alaska and North Carolina before being deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 for 11 months, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Although there is no indication that he served in a combat capacity, he was promoted to staff sergeant in 2013.
Before leaving active duty in 2015, Jabbar faced disciplinary actions for driving under the influence, the report noted.
After five years as a reservist, he was honorably discharged. Soon after, he began studying computer information systems at Georgia State University while working as a senior cloud analyst at Accenture, a major consulting firm.
Between 2019 and 2021, he worked at EY, another major consultancy, as a cloud consulting manager before securing a job at Deloitte, where he earned a salary of $125,000.
Meanwhile, Jabbar’s personal life was marked by turmoil.
He separated from his first wife in 2012, and she was awarded custody of their children, with Jabbar required to pay child support and their medical insurance.
He remarried in 2017, but by 2020, his second marriage had deteriorated. His ex-wife obtained a restraining order, which prohibited Jabbar from sending her threatening or obscene messages and from threatening bodily harm to her or their child.
During their divorce proceedings, Jabbar provided a court statement claiming financial distress, citing monthly earnings of $7,500 and liabilities approaching $9,000.
Jabbar’s younger brother, 24-year-old Abdur Jabbar, described him as “a sweetheart really, a nice guy, a friend, really smart, caring.”
“This is more some type of radicalization, not religion,” the brother told The New York Times.
The FBI revealed that Jabbar acted alone in the attack, after a thorough investigation of his social media, interviews with witnesses, and analysis of three cell phones and two laptops found at an Airbnb on Mandeville Street in New Orleans linked to Jabbar.
“Digital media exploitation is a priority,” Raia stated.
Raia also clarified that individuals seen on surveillance video peering inside coolers were “patriots” just looking around.
Two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted inside coolers along Bourbon Street were later discovered.
“There was nothing to indicate through call records, interviews, or anything in our systems that he was aided in this attack by anybody,” Raia confirmed.
Back in Houston, Jabbar had told neighbors in his predominantly Muslim neighborhood that he was relocating to New Orleans for a new IT job, just hours before using the same white truck to carry out his deadly attack.
Muntaz Bashir, a neighbor, recalled offering to help Jabbar move that morning, but Jabbar explained that he was moving to a furnished apartment in New Orleans and wouldn’t be bringing anything with him.
“Unfortunately, you can’t read someone’s mind,” Bashir said, recalling how normal Jabbar seemed during their brief conversation that morning.
“I was shocked.”
After the federal raid, Jabbar’s trailer was left in disarray, with the front door kicked in, cabinets opened, and cheap furniture tossed around.
A back bedroom contained children’s toys and bunk beds, while the main bedroom had a keffiyeh hanging in the closet.
Lawmakers were briefed on the incident on Thursday, and it was revealed that Jabbar, who was killed in a shootout with police, had never appeared on a terror watchlist prior to the attack, according to sources close to the investigation.
{Matzav.com}