I
n a series of disturbing videos posted on Facebook in the hours leading up to the New Year's attack in New Orleans, the perpetrator, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, discussed his plans to kill his family and mentioned dreams that inspired him to join ISIS, according to officials briefed on the investigation.

    Jabbar, a 42-year-old US citizen and Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, drove a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. The videos were posted between 1:29 a.m. and 3:02 a.m. on Wednesday, just hours before the attack.

    In the recordings, Jabbar referenced his divorce and initially planned to gather his family for a "celebration" with the intention of killing them. However, he changed his plans, stating that he wanted news headlines to focus on the "war between believers and disbelievers." Jabbar claimed to have joined ISIS before this summer.

    Jabbar was killed while exchanging fire with police after ramming the truck through the crowd in the early hours of New Year's Day. He had an ISIS flag in the truck, according to local and federal authorities.

    Law enforcement is reviewing the videos, as well as phones and laptops potentially linked to Jabbar, as they try to piece together how he went from a military veteran to a suspect in a deadly rampage.

    Jabbar's family is struggling to understand where he went wrong. His brother Abdur described him as "very well-tempered" and "slow to anger," making it hard for them to reconcile the attack with the person they knew.

    Jabbar served in the Army for over a decade, including a deployment to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. He later worked in business development and data engineering at Deloitte and Accenture before obtaining a real estate license in 2019.

    However, Jabbar had a history of contentious divorces and run-ins with the law. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft in 2002 and was charged with driving under the influence while serving at Fort Bragg in 2014.

    In recent years, Jabbar struggled financially, stating that he couldn't afford his mortgage payment and had incurred significant credit card debt. He rented the truck used in the attack on Turo, telling a neighbor he was moving to New Orleans for a new job.

    Turo has disabled the truck linked to the New Orleans attack for renting and is cooperating with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents.