Footage of New Orleans attack suspect expresses extreme religious views | New Orleans truck attack

Nearly a year before he allegedly killed 14 people and injured dozens more by driving a pickup truck flying the Islamic State (IS) flag through a crowd of New Year’s Eve revelers in New Orleans, Shamsud-Din Jabbar expressed his belief that music, drugs, sex, and other pleasures were evils that deserved destruction.

An account on the SoundCloud platform under the name Jabbar posted three recordings totaling about 20 minutes each containing these and other expressions of extremist religious views.

SoundCloud did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The voice on the footage matches Jabbar’s voice as heard on a video promoting a real estate business he was confirmed to have run before authorities say he targeted a deadly terror attack on one of the world’s most famous festive drags, killing or injured a mix of local area residents as well as foreign visitors. He was then shot and killed by police at the end of Wednesday’s attack on Bourbon Street, bringing the total number of dead to 15, the local coroner said Thursday.

Muslim scholars have widely rejected the extremist views held by IS or those who sympathize with the terror group regarding the religion, saying that Islam teaches mercy and peace as well as the importance of justice.

Citing reports that Jabbar had previously been accused of engaging in some of the behavior he denounces in the footage, including drunk driving and spousal abuse, a statement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Thursday: “His crime is the latest example of why cruel, merciless, bottom-feeding extremist groups have been rejected by the overwhelming majority of the Muslim world – from Islamic scholars to mosques, to organizations and to individuals Muslims.”

“We strongly condemn this crime, (and) we stand in solidarity with the people of New Orleans,” the organization said, urging people who could help investigators catch any potential accomplices of Jabbar to come forward.

Nevertheless, the footage appears to answer an early question about Jabbar: how long he had been radicalized without detection. The audio states that Jabbar openly detailed extremist religious views around February 2024, though relatively few observers had taken notice, and the recordings collectively garnered fewer than 300 listens as of Thursday. The account had two followers while following various Muslim-related accounts on the platform.

The longest recording centers on Jabbar’s interpretation of scripture to mean that “poetry, like rapping” could gradually lure people “into the things that God has forbidden us: drugs like marijuana, alcohol, tranquilizers, opioids , stimulants and others”.

“Then there is the way music lures us into illicit sex, vulgarity, violence, betrayal, arrogance, burglary, cheating, ingratitude to our spouses or others in general,” he continued. It suggested music was “the voice of Satan,” he added: “It drives us to squander our wealth, break the ties of kinship—and even idolatry by calling us to worship … the artist himself.”

The 42-year-old, who most recently lived in Houston, would go on to blame a rap song for a spate of three murders that occurred in his neighborhood shortly after its release in the early 2000s. He also said he believed scripture commanded people to “forbid evil”.

“In fact, Allah commands Satan to incite mankind with his voice and attack them with his soldiers and become a partner,” noted Jabbar, an American-born citizen and military veteran who served in Afghanistan. “Forbidding … evil is a mandate for all mankind.”

Jabbar on another recording claims that “Allah … says, ‘Save those who believe and do righteous deeds … These will have the glad tidings of paradise with all its gifts and pleasures, without there ever being a break in them.”

Jabbar’s rhetoric would later escalate dramatically. Joe Biden said the FBI told him and his White House aides that agents found, “just hours before the attack,” that Jabbar had “posted videos on social media indicating he was inspired by IS and expressed a desire about killing”.

CNN reported spoke to two officials who had been briefed on the videos. On them, Jabbar referred to a divorce and plans to gather his family under the guise of a party before killing them.

But Jabbar reportedly said he later had dreams about why he should join IS before ultimately changing his plans and joining the terror group, CNN said. The network added that it had not independently reviewed the videos, but understood they were taken while Jabbar was driving at night.

Punchbowl News Thursday reported that Jabbar posted five videos on Facebook the morning before the attack in New Orleans, according to a briefing given to certain members of the House and Senate. Citing a source who was briefed, Punchbowl’s congressional reporter Mica Soellner wrote on X: “In the first (video) he explained his subscription to the ISIS ideology, and in the second he ‘gave his way.’

Jabbar had complained in court that one of his two divorces made it difficult for him to pay his house bill. Other legal issues included a drunken driving conviction as well as a restraining order obtained by an ex-wife who alleged he was abusive, which was first reported by TMZ.

On Wednesday, after renting a pickup truck and mounting an IS flag in the back, Jabbar steered around a police blockade at the foot of Bourbon Street and smashed into New Year’s revelers celebrating in a city synonymous with jazz and rap music as well as raucous celebrations such as like Mardi Gras. He also fired a rifle into crowds in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, as well as police — while dressed in body armor and a helmet. He wounded two officers who confronted him before they were shot dead by police.

Authorities said Jabbar killed 14 victims while wounding about 35 more. Many of the victims were either from the New Orleans area or nearby Mississippi. But there were also residents of other states and citizens of other countries, including Mexico and Israel, according to information released so far by various officials.

At a news briefing Thursday, an FBI official said investigators suspected Jabbar was solely responsible for the previous day’s killing. Authorities spent Wednesday searching for possible accomplices after finding a number of improvised explosive devices left near the attack site. Two were wired for remote detonation, with a corresponding remote control found in Jabbar’s truck.

A short-term rental house where Jabbar was staying was later also found intentionally set on fire about two miles away from the attack.

Local and state leaders generally expressed a need to demonstrate resilience — along with compassion for the victims and their families in the wake of the attack — as they began plans to return to normal Thursday.

“Remember that evil makes no sense,” New Orleans City Councilman Oliver Thomas said in a statement. “Our focus must be on prayers and support for all involved.”