Who was Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect in the deadly New Orleans truck attack now being investigated as terrorism

• FBI identified Shamsud-Din Jabbar as the suspect in the New Orleans truck attack.
• Jabbar, now dead, was a US citizen from Texas and had a criminal record.
• At least 15 people were killed, and dozens more were injured.

The FBI has identified a suspect in Wednesday's deadly attack in New Orleans as Shamsud-Din Jabbar.

The agency said Jabbar, who was confirmed dead after a shootout with police, was a 42-year-old US citizen from Texas. The attack is being investigated as terrorism.

At least 15 people are dead, and dozens more were injured, after the attacker drove a truck into crowds on Bourbon Street at about 3:15 a.m. on New Year's Day. Two police officers were shot but are in stable condition.

The FBI said an ISIS flag, as well as weapons and a "potential" improvised explosive device, was found in the Ford F-150 pickup truck used in the attack.

It added that IEDs were found in the French Quarter, and the agency is investigating whether Jabbar had connections to terrorist organizations.

Louisiana's attorney general, Liz Murrill, told NBC News that multiple people were involved and that they had rented a house on Airbnb.

"There was a house fire in New Orleans this morning that was connected to this event where we believe the IEDs were being made," she added.

President Joe Biden said in a press conference that hours before the attack, Jabbar posted videos "inspired by ISIS, expressing a desire to kill."

Jabbar's criminal record, obtained from the Texas Department of Public Safety and viewed by Business Insider, shows two arrests from 2002 and 2005.

The first was for theft of $50 to $500. The other was for driving with an invalid license. Both were classified as misdemeanors.

An FBI assistant special agent, Alethea Duncan, said in a press conference that the FBI did not believe Jabbar acted alone. She did not specify how many additional suspects the agency was investigating.

"We are aggressively running down every lead, including those of his known associates," Duncan said. "We're asking anyone who has information, video, or pictures to provide it to the FBI."

She later added that Jabbar was an Army veteran and that the FBI believed he was honorably discharged.

US military spokespersons told media on Wednesday evening that Jabbar served in the Army from 2007 to 2015, during which he was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.

He filled information-technology and human-resources roles at the time and was later an IT specialist in the Army Reserve from 2016 to 2020. He left the military as a staff sergeant.

Jabbar graduated from Georgia State University in 2017 after studying IT, according to an online résumé reviewed by CNN.

Sean Keenan, a freelance journalist, reported for The New York Times that he had interviewed Jabbar in 2015 for Georgia State University's newspaper. Jabbar told Keenan that he had difficulty adjusting back to civilian life — particularly with getting used to nonmilitary speech.

"You may have a lot of skills and training from the Army," Jabbar said in the article. "But you may not be able to speak the language to really translate it and be understood when you apply for a civilian job."

He also said that bureaucracy in the Department of Veterans Affairs meant he might not receive his benefits if he made small mistakes on his paperwork.

Citing Jabbar's résumé, CNN said he worked at Deloitte and Accenture, two of the biggest consultancies. A Deloitte spokesperson told BI in a statement that he worked in a "staff-level role" since his hiring in 2021.

"We are shocked to learn of reports today that the individual identified as a suspect had any association with our firm," the Deloitte statement said. "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."

Accenture did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jabbar also had a real estate license in Texas from 2019 to 2023. He took classes in real estate from 2018 to 2021, per the Texas Real Estate Commission.

Citing court documents, CNN said he had been divorced twice, though The New York Times reported him he had only separated from his second wife.

His second wife had a temporary restraining order against him, which was granted in 2020, CNN said.

The Times said Jabbar and his first wife divorced in 2012. Dwayne Marsh, her new husband, said that she had forbidden her and Jabbar's two daughters from seeing him and that he had started acting strangely in recent months.

Jabbar's brother, Abdur, told the outlet that Jabbar had grown up as a Christian but converted to Islam many years ago.

"What he did does not represent Islam," the brother said. "This is more some type of radicalization, not religion."

Chris Pousson, an Air Force veteran who went to school with Jabbar and reconnected with him in 2015, told the outlet that he remembered Jabbar as "quiet, reserved, and really, really smart."

Jabbar was always polite and well dressed, he said, and though he noticed Jabbar writing increasingly religious posts on Facebook around 2015, the latest news was "a complete 180 from the quiet, reserved person I knew."

Turo, a car-sharing company, confirmed to BI that Jabbar used a truck rented through its app to carry out the attack and that it's "actively partnering with the FBI."

"We are not currently aware of anything in this guest's background that would have identified him as a trust and safety threat to us at the time of the reservation," a Turo spokesperson said.

The attack came ahead of three major events in New Orleans, including the college football Sugar Bowl game, which was scheduled for January 1. Officials said it was postponed 24 hours.

The city also has its annual Mardi Gras festivities starting on January 6 and the 59th Super Bowl scheduled for February 9.