BEAUMONT, Texas – Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s high school friends knew him as “Sham” – a good student with a calm disposition and a bright future. He later became an exemplary soldier in the Army, where his work ethic and attitude impressed his commander during a tour in Afghanistan.

“He was a great soldier, someone who showed discipline and dedication,” commander Rich Groen posted on social media.

But as Jabbar worked to climb the corporate ladder in recent years, his life began to deteriorate. He had serious money problems and a third divorce. At some point he fell into the hands of the Islamic State, the terrorist group ISIS.

On New Year’s Eve, 42-year-old Jabbar drove from Houston to New Orleans in a rented truck, authorities said, posting videos online along the way expressing his support for ISIS. When he reached Bourbon Street, he planted two improvised explosive devices, then got back in his truck and plowed into the revelers, killing 14 people before police shot him dead in a shootout.

In some ways, Jabbar, whose personal life and finances are in shambles, fits the profile of those experts say are most likely to turn to extremist groups to find meaning and purpose.

The attack has left his friends and family members stunned and confused. How could someone so kind and humble, some have said in interviews and social media posts, end up committing such a heinous terrorist attack?

“It’s a complete surprise, a shock for everyone,” Jabbar’s half-brother Abdur-Rahim Jabbar IV, 24, said in an interview.

“There were no obvious moments or signs leading up to this that he had become radicalized or changed in any way from the loving brother, father and son that we all know,” he said.

The investigators are trying to find out which path Jabbar took to radicalization. At a news conference Thursday morning, police officials admitted they had little insight into his transformation.

“We’re still asking a lot of questions,” said Christopher Raia, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “What I can tell you now is that he was 100% inspired by ISIS. We’re exploring more social media, doing more interviews and working with some of our other partners to find out a little more about this connection.”

“Time is of the essence”

Jabbar grew up in Beaumont, a town in East Texas near the Louisiana border. He attended Central High School, where he was known for his polite, easy-going manner and well-groomed demeanor. He tended to wear button-down shirts and polos, former classmates said.

“He was very down-to-earth, reserved and quiet,” said Chris Pousson, who attended middle and high school with Jabbar.

After graduating in 2001, Jabbar sought to serve his country. He initially tried to join the Navy in 2004, but left after just a month, according to three U.S. defense officials. He then joined the Army and worked as a human resources specialist and information technology specialist from 2007 to 2015.

His unit was stationed in Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010.

Groen, Jabbar’s commander, wrote on social media that as a personnel officer and postal officer in Afghanistan, he worked “calmly and professionally” and “ensured that the little things that kept us all connected to home were done with care and precision.” .”

“The thought that the same person who once embodied quiet professionalism could harbor so much hatred and commit such unspeakable atrocities is incomprehensible and heartbreaking,” added Groen, who declined an interview request.

After his time in the military, Jabbar attended Georgia State University and studied computer information systems, a university spokesman said.

He was quoted in a 2015 article for the student newspaper about the challenges military veterans face navigating college life.

“The culture isn’t all that different, but once you get out of the military you’ve learned so many different acronyms,” Jabbar said. “And when you leave office … you don’t know how to speak without using those terms, and you’re not sure what terms are used outside of the military.”

He also said veterans need to be extremely careful to ensure they receive payments through the GI Bill.

“It’s such a big agency,” he said, referring to the Department of Veterans Affairs. “You need to do your due diligence and make sure you have all the documentation together.”

Jabbar looked back fondly on his time in the military and encouraged his half-brother to follow in his footsteps.

“It set him straight,” Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said, referring to a time after high school when Jabbar partied and had some minor run-ins with the law. “It gave him some discipline and grounded him.”

After graduating in 2017, Jabbar tried his hand at real estate. In a promotional video posted to YouTube in 2020, he said his time in the military helped him learn “the importance of excellent service and the importance of responsiveness.”

But his real estate career was short-lived. He began working for consulting firm Deloitte in 2021, a company spokesman said.

At this point his life was already beginning to crumble. He was going through divorce proceedings with his third wife — his first marriage ended around 2012 and his second in 2016 — and was in deep financial trouble, according to court records.

The company he founded, Blue Meadow Properties, lost $28,000 in 2021 and he has $16,000 in credit card debt, he wrote in an email to his then-wife’s attorney.

“Time is of the essence,” Jabbar wrote. “I can’t afford the house payment. It is overdue by more than $27,000 and is at risk of foreclosure if we delay resolving the divorce.”

Jabbar earned about $58 an hour at Deloitte and worked 40 hours a week, taking home a net income of $7,876.70 a month, according to documents he filed with the court.

But his monthly expenses were around $9,000. According to the documents, he only had $2,012 in his bank accounts as of August 2022.

Despite his financial difficulties, Jabbar was still there for his family. His half-brother said their father suffered a stroke in 2023 and that Jabbar frequently stopped by to help care for him.

“He helped me bathe him, change him and feed him,” said Abdur-Rahim Jabbar.

“Pray at home”

It remains unclear when Jabbar was first drawn to ISIS. His half-brother said their father was Muslim and Jabbar’s mother was Christian, but converted when they married.

Jabbar was open about his Muslim faith. He made it clear that he didn’t like drinking or partying, but he didn’t talk about it intrusively, his half-brother said.

They rarely discussed religion, but the war in Gaza came up in a conversation last year.

“He was upset about what was happening in Palestine,” Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said. He remembered his brother saying, “It was genocide on both sides.”

Jabbar seemed to have become more religious after his last divorce, Abdur-Rahim Jabbar said, but he never spoke about ISIS or radical ideologies.

“He was trying to find himself,” he said.

Jabbar posted audio messages about Islam on a SoundCloud account in early 2024. In one titled “Satan’s Voice,” he describes music as the “voice of Satan.”

“It is a gentle, gradual lure into the things God has forbidden us to do – the intoxicants like marijuana, alcohol, tranquilizers, opioids, stimulants and others,” he says. “Then there is the way music tempts us to evoke sex, vulgarity, violence, betrayal, arrogance, burglary and deceit.”

Pousson, his high school friend, said Jabbar frequently posted on Facebook about his Islamic faith but gave no indication of radicalization.

“It was always positive – peace be with you, uplifting things,” Pousson said. “Nothing he posted online that I saw was negative.”

“I didn’t see that from a mile away,” he added.

One of Jabbar’s neighbors in Texas said he never saw him at the local mosque. “He says he prays at home,” said the neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous.

The neighbor said Jabbar was “nice” and “quiet” and mostly kept to himself.

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, the neighbor said he saw Jabbar loading a white truck in front of his house. The neighbor went over to see if he needed help, and Jabbar said he was moving to Louisiana.

“He said he found a job there,” the neighbor recalled.

Sometime on New Year’s Day, the neighbor learned that Jabbar had traveled to New Orleans for an entirely different reason.