New Orleans attacks may embolden ISIS to radicalize other Americans: experts

Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s New Year’s Day massacre in New Orleans, carried out with a pickup truck flying an ISIS flag, may encourage the terrorist organization to radicalize more Americans, experts tell Fox News Digital.

Jabbar’s younger brother told The New York Times that he and his military veteran brother were raised Christians in Beaumont, Texas, before the now-deceased attacker converted to Islam as an adult.

“What he did does not represent Islam,” said the younger brother. “This is more a form of radicalization, not religion.”

NEW ORLEANS TRUCK ATTACK MYSTERIOUSLY INSPIRED BY ISLAMIC STATE TERRORIST GROUP

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a suspect in the New Orleans attack, is seen in this social media photo released in November 2013 at Fort Johnson (formerly Fort Polk), Louisiana. (1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division via Facebook via Reuters)

He added that Jabbar didn’t know what he wanted to do in life and began his military career “to get some kind of discipline.”

While traveling from his home in Texas to Louisiana on Tuesday, Jabbar posted videos on his Facebook account pledging his allegiance to ISIS, law enforcement sources said.

Retired FBI agents Scott Duffey and Chris Swecker told Fox News Digital that Wednesday’s attack could embolden ISIS, other terrorist groups or individuals who have been radicalized.

NEW ORLEANS TERRORIST’S BROTHER ILL, ATTACKS SIGN OF ‘RADICALIZATION’: REPORT

ATF agents are investigating a rental house Shamsud-Din Jabbar used in New Orleans on Thursday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

“This is a time when ISIS is under extreme stress and their existence is being threatened in Syria and elsewhere. It would make sense for them to double down on their message to radicalize Americans to put them to work and activate the cells they have. in place,” Swecker said.

Before his rampage in New Orleans, Jabbar posted several videos on Facebook declaring his support for ISIS, the FBI said at a news conference Thursday.

“In the first video, Jabbar explains that he only planned to harm his family and friends, but was concerned that the news headlines would not focus on the ‘war between the believers and the unbelievers’.” FBI Assistant Chief Christopher Raia said.

ISIS and other terrorist organizations often use social media to recruit new members, experts said.

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“ISIS and other foreign adversaries use every possible social media platform to spread anti-American ideologies, rhetoric and propaganda,” Duffey said. “It’s free speech and designed to slowly convert young people to start questioning their American and religious ideals.

“It starts (with) soft messages to attract people to their thought process,” he added. “Links are often provided that direct people to further messages… so division and distrust of government in young impressionable minds.

“I think there’s often an underlying mental issue in the reader that draws them to the message, which over time leads to … more encrypted messages of violence.

“It’s a win for them if someone does something like what he did yesterday.”

Investigators search a rental home used by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans on Thursday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

Most people are radicalized by online materials, said John Ryan, who served as chief of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department.

“If he’s an IT person, that would mean he probably knows how to access the dark web, where a lot more material is available,” Ryan said of Jabbar’s background in information technology.

“As for whether it could trigger other people, unfortunately there are many keyboard warriors who are exposed to this and are looking for something to connect to. Given the high level of mental health issues in the wake of COVID and the number of protests in support of Hamas and pro-Palestine and anti-Israel, the answer is mostly lone wolves.

Although law enforcement initially looked for accomplices in the attack, the FBI said Thursday that it appears Jabbar acted alone. But, Swecker said, that doesn’t rule out the possibility of an active terrorist cell in the country.

“If his radicalization was a result of propaganda and calls to action by ISIS on the Internet, this is (still) international terrorism. We call him homegrown, but it is directed from a terrorist organization,” Swecker said.

“Even if he doesn’t carry a card, even if he’s not on the phone with the ISIS director, but he’s being called to action by propaganda on their websites, it’s still international terrorism,” he said. “It’s very much part of the playbook for al Qaeda and these international groups.”

Jabbar was stationed at Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty, in North Carolina, as was active-duty U.S. Army soldier Matthew Livelsberger, who police said was intentionally set and killed in an explosion that injured seven outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday .

Investigators have found no evidence of a link between the Bourbon Street terror attack in New Orleans and the Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas, despite the suspects’ shared military histories.

The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that blew up outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day has been identified as active duty U.S. Army soldier Matthew Livelsberger, right. Livelsberger’s attack took place hours after Jabbar’s in New Orleans. (Fox News)

“If they served on the same base, I think I’m still very open, and there’s a distinct possibility that they have connections on the Internet or with their former military associations,” Swecker said. “If (Livelsberger) was a convert, he would have gone to the same (religious) services as (Jabbar).

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“What (Jabbar) did and what happened in Las Vegas lends credibility to the movement and creates that excitement for others who might be thinking about it (continuing) their plan in a short time frame,” Duffey said.