The man responsible for driving a truck into a crowd in New Orleans on New Year’s Day posted audio recordings online in early 2024. In these recordings, Shamsud-Din Jabbar expressed his religious beliefs and criticized music, calling it the “voice of Satan.” However, he did not mention any violent plans or affiliations with extremist groups.
Jabbar, who killed 14 people on Bourbon Street, shared three recordings on SoundCloud about 11 months before the attack. These included a Quran recitation and a message claiming music could lead people to harmful behaviors like drinking alcohol, using marijuana, and becoming violent.
Basharat Saleem, from the Islamic Society of North America, told CBS News that Jabbar’s views were a misunderstanding of Islamic teachings. He emphasized that Jabbar’s personal conclusions did not align with Islam’s teachings.
Jabbar’s younger brother, Abdur-Rahim Jabbar, shared that in the year leading up to the attack, his brother became more religious. He started wearing more modest clothing, removed his tattoos, and stopped drinking alcohol. While Abdur-Rahim noticed these changes, he did not find them alarming and didn’t believe his brother was becoming radicalized.
Authorities are investigating how Jabbar became radicalized. Before the attack, Jabbar posted videos on Facebook claiming he had joined ISIS earlier in the year. In the videos, he explained that he had originally planned to harm friends and family, but then decided to target a larger crowd to make a statement about the “war between believers and non-believers.”
Muslim leaders and scholars have condemned violence in the name of Islam, rejecting extremist ideologies like those promoted by ISIS. Azhar Azeez, from the Islamic Society of North America, stated that extremism has no place in the Muslim community. The Council on American-Islamic Relations also denounced the attack, stating that extremist groups are rejected by the majority of Muslims worldwide.
