New Orleans attacker says in video to family he considered killing them before joining ISIS
one U.S. Army veteran from Texas drives to Louisiana He deliberately broke into New Year’s revelers in New Orleans and recorded a video to his family while driving in which he discussed his plans to kill them and told them he had joined the Islamic State.
“I wanted to record this message for my family,” Shamsuddin-Jabbar says in the video. “I want you to know that I joined ISIS earlier this year.”
Then he added: “I don’t want you to think I spared you willingly.”
He told his family that he first wanted to organize a “celebration” for them so that everyone could “witness the murder of the apostates,” an apparent reference to their killing.
A senior law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed the contents of the videos, which were first reported by The New York Times, to NBC News. NBC News has not independently reviewed the films.
Authorities said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 42, drove a rental truck from Houston to New Orleans on New Year’s Eve and posted videos online along the way. After arriving on New Orleans’ famed Bourbon Street around 3:15 a.m., he planted two improvised explosive devices before getting back in his truck and plowing into revelers, killing 14 people before police shot him dead in a shootout.
Experts say the details about Jabbar fit a typical pattern of militant violence among veterans.
In the years leading up to Wednesday’s attack, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went through his third divorce, racked up massive debt and lost his corporate job. Divorce court records from January 2022 show he faced tens of thousands of dollars in business losses and credit card debt, as well as more than $27,000 in past-due mortgage payments. By August of that year, he had just $2,012 left in his bank account, according to documents in the case.
While experts may not be surprised, Jabbar’s brutality has baffled his family, friends and colleagues, who describe him as kind and humble.
“This is a complete surprise and shock to everyone,” Jabbar’s half-brother, Abdur-Rahim Jabbar IV, 24, said in a statement Zhou said in an interview.
It’s unclear when Kareem first became attracted to ISIS. Abdul-Rahim Jabbar said their father was Muslim and Shamsuddin-Jabbar’s mother was Christian and converted to Christianity after their marriage. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is open about his Muslim faith but doesn’t discuss it in a forceful way.
He said the two rarely discussed religion, although they did discuss the Gaza war last year. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar expressed dissatisfaction with the situation, calling it “genocide on both sides.”
After his latest divorce, Jabbar appears to have become more religious, although he has never discussed ISIS or any radical ideology. His half-brother described him as “trying to find himself”.
In early 2024, Jabbar posted audio messages on SoundCloud, one of which was titled “The Voice of Satan,” in which he denounced music as the “voice of Satan,” claiming that music caused people to engage in prohibited behaviors such as drug use and violence.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com
