In the wake of the deadly car-ramming attack on New Orleans’ bustling Bourbon Street, federal investigators have released a timeline of events surrounding the brazen New Year’s Day incident.
Fourteen people were killed and 35 others were injured after a Ford F-150 truck plowed into pedestrians and gunfire erupted in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
During a press briefing on Thursday, the FBI’s deputy assistant director for the counterterrorism division, Christopher Raia, noted that while the investigation into the attack is in its early stages, investigators believe the suspect, 42-year-old Shamsud-Dim Jabbar, acted alone.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, has been identified as the suspect in an attack that killed at least 15 people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day in 2025.
FBI
Jabbar, a Texas resident who FBI officials said proclaimed his support for the terror group ISIS in social media posts ahead of the attack, was killed in gunfire exchanged with New Orleans police amid the attack.
Additionally, an ISIS flag was recovered by authorities from the back of Jabbar’s rented pickup truck following the rampage.
He was a U.S.-born citizen and Army veteran who previously worked for the consulting fim Deloitte, according to court records obtained by ABC News.
As a portrait begins to emerge about Jabbar and potential motivations behind the attack, federal investigators have laid out a timeline of events that led up to the incident officials have dubbed an “act of terrorism.”
Dec. 30: Truck rented in Houston
On Monday, Dec. 30, Jabbar rented a white Ford F-150 truck in Houston, Texas, through the car rental app Turo, according to officials.
A black flag with white lettering lies on the ground rolled up behind a pickup truck that a man drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, early Wednesday morning, Jan. 1, 2025.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Dec. 31: Jabbar drives from Houston to New Orleans
Federal investigators said that Jabbar drove from Houston to New Orleans on Tuesday.
The drive is approximately five and a half hours, spanning over 340 miles.
Jan. 1: Jabbar posts pro-ISIS videos to Facebook
During the press briefing on Thursday, Raia said that federal investigators found that Jabbar posted five videos to social media “proclaiming his support for ISIS.” The videos were posted between 1:29 a.m. CT and 3:02 a.m. CT, according to Raia.
“In the first video, Jabbar explains he originally planned to harm his family and friends but was concerned the news headlines would not focus on the ‘war between the believers and the disbelievers,'” Raia said.
In one of the videos, Jabbar noted that he joined ISIS before this summer, according to Raia.
Raia called the attack a premeditated “act of terrorism.”
Jan. 1: Attack on Bourbon Street
At approximately 3:15 a.m. CT, Jabbar plowed the rented truck into a blocked-off section of Bourbon Street where pedestrians were celebrating the holiday, according to officials.
The suspect mowed down dozens of people over a three-block stretch on the world-famous thoroughfare while firing into the crowd, police said.
Location of New Orleans truck ramming attack
Map tiles by Google Earth
The attack left 14 people killed and 35 others injured, according to officials, who said Jabbar was killed while exchanging gunfire with police during the rampage.
Jan. 1: Explosive devices recovered
Following the attack, authorities recovered two improvised explosive devices left in coolers in the Bourbon Street area, Raia said.
FBI investigators arrive at the scene where the white Ford F-150 pickup truck that crashed into a work lift after allegedly driving into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 1, 2025.
Matthew Hinton/AFP via Getty Images
Surveillance footage showed Jabbar placing the devices in the coolers, according to Raia. Those were the only devices recovered and both were rendered safe, he said.
Jan. 1: Victims identified
A young mother teaching her son to read. A former college football player “on top of the world” living in New York City. An 18-year-old aspiring nurse. A father of two remembered as the “life of the party.”
In the aftermath of the deadly incident, family members and friends have begun identifying the 14 people killed on Bourbon Street.
For more about each of the victims read ABC News’ coverage here.
Jan. 2: Jabbar’s divorces and financial difficulties come to light
Jabbar had a checkered marital history punctuated by multiple divorces and financial difficulty, according to court records reviewed by ABC News.
The records also show that after his military service, Jabbar worked for Deloitte as he aimed to grow his own fledgling real estate business.
As of 2022, while employed by Deloitte, documents show Jabbar was making close to $125,000 a year — a salary that was chipped away at by court-ordered payments for his children from a past marriage, while being further eroded by credit card and mortgage debt.
Undated photo of Shamsud-Din Jabbar.
FBI
In 2012, his ex-wife, Nakedra Charrlle Jabbar, successfully sued him for child support payments for the couple’s two daughters, who were 8 and 3 years old at the time, according to court records.
Four years later, in 2016, Jabbar filed for divorce from another wife, Tiera Symone Jabbar, in Dekalb County, Georgia.
In July 2020, in Fort Bend County, Texas, Jabbar filed for divorce from his third wife, Shaneen Chantil Jabbar, whom he married in Nov. 2017, according to court filings.
For more about Jabbar’s marriages and financial difficulties read ABC News’ coverage here.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Josh Margolin, Aaron Katersky, Luke Barr, Peter Charalambous, Emily Shapiro, Bill Hutchinson, Meredith Deliso and Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
Source: abc news
