Terror in New Orleans

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Terror in New Orleans" - The Daily

Episode Overview

In the January 3, 2025 episode of The Daily by The New York Times, hosts Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise delve into the harrowing terrorist attack that unfolded in downtown New Orleans on New Year's Eve. Titled "Terror in New Orleans," the episode provides an in-depth analysis of the events, the perpetrator’s background, the investigation's progress, and the impact on the victims and the community.

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1. The Attack: A Night of Revelry Turned Tragedy

The episode opens with a vivid recounting of the attack in the French Quarter, specifically Bourbon Street, one of New Orleans' most iconic and bustling areas during celebrations. Susan Lee, a researcher and fact-checker with The Daily, sets the scene:

"[...] a New Year's Eve in New Orleans. It's a place where thousands of people come every year to celebrate the New Year, to drink all night, to be with their friends, to stay out late, to roam around the streets and go from bar to bar." [00:04]

At approximately 3:15 AM, the festive atmosphere is shattered when a white pickup truck breaches security barriers—likely due to renovations altering the usual barricade setup—and speeds down Bourbon Street. The truck, driven by Shamsuddin Bahar Jabbar, plows through the crowd, resulting in chaos and devastation:

"Thousands of people that got hit by this car... bodies littered throughout the entire street." [03:00]

The immediate aftermath saw 14 fatalities and 35 injuries, with survivors recounting the sheer panic and confusion as the attack unfolded.

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2. The Perpetrator: Shamsuddin Bahar Jabbar’s Transformation

The heart of the episode focuses on deciphering how a U.S. Army veteran transitioned into committing an act of terrorism. Mike Baker, a national reporter, unpacks Jabbar's background:

"Jabbar grows up in Texas. He's raised a Christian at some point, converts to Islam. He goes off to the arm, he deploys to Afghanistan as part of the War on Terror." [11:29]

Jabbar's military service included earning a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, highlighting his role in protecting American interests abroad. Post-military life saw him obtaining a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems and securing a six-figure position at Deloitte, painting the picture of a successful and stable individual.

However, underlying struggles emerged. Jabbar endured two divorces and significant financial hardships, including a dire situation threatening foreclosure:

"I cannot afford the house payment, describing past due payments, over $27,000, danger of foreclosure." [14:09]

These personal challenges coincided with a noticeable shift in his behavior, becoming more erratic and fervent in his religious beliefs, as reported by family members:

"They felt like his behavior was becoming more unpredictable and a little bit frightening and suggested it had something to do with his religious beliefs growing more fervent." [15:01]

In the critical hours before the attack, Jabbar posted five videos on Facebook, pledging allegiance to ISIS and outlining his intentions:

"He posted five videos. And in one of them, he describes how he joined ISIS before last summer... he provided what the FBI described as a will and testament." [15:28]

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3. Investigation: Lone Actor or Part of a Larger Plot?

Initial confusion arose when a second incident involving a Tesla Cybertruck exploded in Las Vegas on the same New Year's Day, leading to speculation about a coordinated attack:

"People were coming up with all kinds of theories about whether this was an attack that had been planned, that people had coordinated in choosing a certain rental service or doing this or that." [07:05]

Authorities, however, clarified that Jabbar acted alone, with no substantial evidence linking him directly to ISIS operatives:

"We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsa Din Jabbar, the subject." [07:58]

Further investigations revealed that the nearby explosive devices were likely planted by bystanders without knowledge of their contents, debunking initial fears of a broader conspiracy.

The FBI’s extensive efforts included recovering three phones linked to Jabbar, scrutinizing two computers, and urging anyone who had interacted with him recently to come forward. Despite these efforts, questions remain about Jabbar’s pathway to radicalization, with no direct connections to ISIS operatives uncovered to date.

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4. Profiles of the Victims: Lives Cut Short

The episode pays tribute to the victims, humanizing the tragedy through personal stories. Christina Morales shares the poignant account of Nicaira Cheyenne Didot, an 18-year-old from Gulfport, Mississippi:

"Her grandmother had 17 grandchildren. This is the first time she's lost a grandchild." [20:20]

Nicaira, affectionately known as "Biscuit" by her family, was preparing to embark on a nursing career, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother. Her unexpected presence on Bourbon Street was a shock to her family, who had no knowledge of her plans to celebrate New Year's in New Orleans:

"If they had known that she was planning on it, that they would have convinced her otherwise." [21:59]

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5. Security Lapses: Ignored Warnings and Vulnerabilities

A critical revelation discussed in the episode is the 2019 security assessment that cautioned New Orleans officials about Bourbon Street's vulnerability to vehicular attacks. The assessment highlighted that existing preventive measures were insufficient, a fact that now underscores the tragic failure to avert the catastrophe.

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6. Conclusion: A Community in Mourning and Seeking Answers

The episode concludes by reflecting on the profound impact of the attack on the New Orleans community and the broader implications for urban security. The juxtaposition of a night filled with celebration turned into chaos serves as a stark reminder of the ever-present threats of terrorism and the importance of vigilant, adaptive security measures.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• "A New Year's Eve in New Orleans. It's a place where thousands of people come every year to celebrate..." — Susan Lee [00:04]
• "Thousands of people that got hit by this car... bodies littered throughout the entire street." — Michael Barbaro [03:00]
• "Jabbar grows up in Texas. He's raised a Christian at some point, converts to Islam..." — Mike Baker [11:29]
• "They felt like his behavior was becoming more unpredictable and a little bit frightening..." — Mike Baker [15:01]
• "We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsa Din Jabbar, the subject." — Michael Barbaro [07:58]
• "If they had known that she was planning on it, that they would have convinced her otherwise." — Christina Morales [21:59]

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Closing Thoughts

"Terror in New Orleans" encapsulates a tragic event that not only took numerous lives but also shattered the sense of security in a beloved cultural hub. Through meticulous reporting and heartfelt narratives, The Daily offers listeners a comprehensive understanding of the complexities surrounding the attack, the man behind it, and the community's resilience in the face of unimaginable loss.

Transcript

[Susan Lee]

I'm Susan Lee. I'm a researcher and fact checker with the Daily.

[Michael Barbaro]

What I do is make sure details in our episodes are accurate. For us, every single fact in an episode matters. The Daily is part of the New York Times. We do everything we can to make sure we get the facts right. Subscribers make it possible for us to do that. If you want to subscribe to the New York times, go to nytimes.com subscribe from the New York Times. I'm Michael Balboro. This is the daily. A mere three hours into 2025, terrorism struck in downtown New Orleans today. What we know about the attack, the man who carried it out, and the victims. I spoke with my colleagues, Nicholas Bogle Perros, Mike Baker and Christina Morales. It's Friday, January 3rd.

[Susan Lee]

Well, Lauren and Meg, we're just out.

[Christina Morales]

Here dancing through life, enjoying the final hours of 2020.

[Michael Barbaro]

Nick, I wonder if you can set the scene for us in the French Quarter of New Orleans on New Year's Eve.

[Susan Lee]

Yeah, this is a New Year's Eve in New Orleans. It's a place where thousands of people come every year to celebrate the New Year, to drink all night, to be with their friends, to stay out late, to roam around the streets and go from bar to bar. And that's exactly what people were doing this New Year's Eve, like every year. And at the heart of the French Quarter is Bourbon street, and it is one of the most famous streets in New Orleans, if not the country. And even at 3am, especially on New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, there are people on the sidewalks under these neon signs, getting an Uber or figuring out their next move. And then around 3:15, all of that changes. It was at that time that a white pickup truck was driving to this area. Normally in this area, there are these metal barricades or bollards. In this case, there's a lot of questions about whether those were missing because the city has undertaken this renovation process of the bollards. What we know is that what was blocking the street was a police car that the truck was able to speed around by seemingly going up onto the sidewalk where there was a big group of people, and then started accelerating down Bourbon street extremely fast. The guy in the pickup truck just.

[Michael Barbaro]

Punched the gas and mowed over the barricade. We have thousands of people that got hit by this car.

[Susan Lee]

There's people pulling each other out of the way, jumping out of the way at the last minute, people looking at their phones and then suddenly looking up at this loud noise and Having maybe half a second to sa their lives. And after barreling through crowds of people, this truck eventually comes to a stop and a police officer approaches the driver's side and there's seemingly an exchange of gunfire in which we know that the attacker was killed. I turned to look down the street.

[Michael Barbaro]

And there's just bodies littered throughout the entire street.

[Susan Lee]

And the screams, I mean, you can't.

[Michael Barbaro]

You can't unthink about, you know, unhear that.

[Susan Lee]

And at that point, it's just mayhem on the street with people trying to find loved ones checking on each other, their bodies all over. People described going into bars, trying to hide, just trying to figure out what's happened and see if their friends have made it with them to safety. And it's a devastating scene of carnage on Bourbon street where just moments before, it had been, you know, the opposite. It had been revelry and people going into the new year. You know, at 1:30 in the morning, I was throwing beads off the balcony, trying to continue ringing in the the.

[Mike Baker]

Fun of the new year.

[Michael Barbaro]

And so to come out of the balcony and immediately see dead bodies on the ground was jarring.

[Susan Lee]

And in the end, 14 people were killed in this attack and 35 more people were wounded.

[Mike Baker]

Foreign.

[Christina Morales]

You are watching MSNBC special coverage of a deadly New Year's attack in New Orleans.

[Michael Barbaro]

At least 15 dead and dozens injured.

[Mike Baker]

The FBI says they're investigating this as a potential act of terrorism.

[Susan Lee]

By the morning, we learned that this was quite clearly an intentional attack. We learned that the truck had a ISIS flag on the back of it. We learned that the attacker had driven from Texas to New Orleans to carry out this mayhem. And we learn his name, Shamsuddin bahar jabbar, a 42 year old US army veteran from Texas who had just in the hours before the attack, posted videos on his Facebook in which he apparently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. But the question at that point is, was he working with someone else? Were there other people involved? And the police had found these coolers that contained explosive devices. One was right on the corner of Bourbon street and one was two blocks away. And when they looked at surveillance video, they saw a bunch of people standing around them, people checking them out, looking at them. And they wondered if any of those people might have been involved in this attack. So that sets off this hunt essentially for people that they thought might have planted explosive devices in the area that thankfully did not go off. And there's a lot of confusion about whether more people are out there who were part of this attack.

[Christina Morales]

Tonight one person is dead and seven others injured after a 2024 Cybertruck exploded.

[Susan Lee]

At the same time. Also on New Year's Day, you have these wild videos of a Tesla cybertruck in Las Vegas across the country bursting into flames right outside of a Trump branded hotel. What do you make of the pair of attacks? You got two rented pickup trucks in two different cities this morning. Coincidence or you think this is linked? And so I think for a lot of people there was this question of whether there was a coordinated attack across the country and fears of what might happen next.

[Michael Barbaro]

Right, that was the feeling. By the end of New Year's Day, I felt it that there was the distinct possibility from what the police were raising that there was a coordinated multi location attack happening.

[Susan Lee]

I think that's right, exactly. And part of the reason I think people thought these attacks might be connected in New Orleans and Las Vegas is because they, the drivers of both cars had apparently rented them through this fairly obscure car rental company called Turo, where people rent out their personal vehicles to others. And so, you know, I think people were coming up with all kinds of theories about whether this was an attack that had been planned, that people had coordinated in choosing a certain rental service or doing this or that, and that more attacks could be coming then on Thursday morning.

[Michael Barbaro]

We do not assess at this point that anyone else is involved in this attack except for Shamsa Din Jabbar, the subject.

[Susan Lee]

You've already FBI and other officials come out and say definitively that they are quite confident that the attacker in New Orleans was acting alone, that he apparently did not have any help.

[Michael Barbaro]

Those reports turned out to be misinformation or not actual devices.

[Susan Lee]

What we end up finding out is that the people who were standing around those coolers with the explosive devices were just bystanders, just people taking a look at something on the street and that they apparently had no involvement in placing them there or knowing what was inside. They said that they do have the attacker on video planting those coolers with the explosive devices.

[Michael Barbaro]

All the resources of the FBI are being focused on tracking down every piece of evidence, every lead, every.

[Susan Lee]

The FBI said that they've recovered three phones tied to the attacker, that they're also going through two computers that they recovered. They are executing search warrants, they are combing through a bunch of tips and surveillance video. And they also asked anyone who had interacted with him in the last few days to come forward. And now the question has turned to how this man, who was a U.S. army veteran and had a stable job, had ended up, becoming radicalized and pledging allegiance to ISIS and wanting to carry out as much destruction as possible in the heart of New Orleans.

[Michael Barbaro]

After the break, my colleague, national reporter Mike Baker, on what we've learned about the suspect. We'll be right back.

[Christina Morales]

This episode is supported by Wealthfront. Your cash could earn 4% APY from partner banks until the moment you need it, with free instant withdrawals to eligible accounts every day. Go to wealthfront.comthedaily for a free $50 bonus with a $500 deposit when you open your first CA. That's wealthfront.comthedaily this has been a paid ad from Wealthfront Cash account offered by Wealthfront Brokerage, LLC member FINRA SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage isn't a bank. The APY on cash deposits as of December 27, 2024 is representative, subject to change and requires no minimum. Funds in the cash account are swept to partner banks where they earn a variable apy.

[Michael Barbaro]

After the movie Free Willy became a hit, word got out that the star.

[Susan Lee]

Of the film, a killer whale named.

[Michael Barbaro]

Keiko, was sick and still living in a tiny pool in a Mexican amusement park. Park fans were outraged. Kids demanded his release. I'm Daniel Alarcon from Serial Productions. In the New York Times comes the Good Whale, a story about the wildly ambitious science experiment to return Keiko to the ocean. Listen to new episodes on Thursdays.

[Susan Lee]

Want early access to the whole show?

[Michael Barbaro]

Subscribe to the [e-mail] podcasts to listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Mike now that we understand from authorities that the suspect acted alone, what are we learning about his specific motivations and how it is that he goes from serving in the US army, in theory protecting America, to becoming a supporter of ISIS who seems bent on killing Americans.

[Mike Baker]

Yeah, we spend a lot of our time the last two days tracing his life, trying to get to the bottom of that switch. You know, Jabbar grows up in Texas. He's raised a Christian at some point, converts to Islam. He goes off to the arm, he deploys to Afghanistan as part of the War on Terror. He earns a Global War on Terrorism Service medal.

[Michael Barbaro]

Wow.

[Mike Baker]

In the military, he's doing HR work and IT work. And then as he transitions out of the army, he puts those skills to use. He goes to Georgia State, he gets a bachelor's degree in computer information systems. Then he goes back to Texas, works in real estate, and he actually posts a YouTube video at one point.

[Susan Lee]

Good evening.

[Michael Barbaro]

I'm Shamsadeen Jabbour, property manager with Blue.

[Mike Baker]

Metal Properties and Team Lead, where he's talking about his real estate business and he really, you can see him projecting a self confidence.

[Michael Barbaro]

I've been here all my life, with.

[Mike Baker]

The exception of traveling for the military, where I spent 10 years as a.

[Michael Barbaro]

Human resources specialist and IT specialist, where I learned the meaning of great service and what it means to be responsive.

[Mike Baker]

That he has picked up skills in the military that are helping him now today.

[Michael Barbaro]

So once we get to the closing table, all the I's are going to be dotted, all the T's are going to be crossed, everything's going to go.

[Mike Baker]

Off without a hitch. And that tech savviness he shows, you know, ultimately he lands himself a six figure job at Deloitte, a really prominent consulting firm. So in the middle of all this, the people around him, his friends, his family, they're seeing a guy who's living a normal and frankly successful life. You know, former schoolmate talks about him as being the quiet and studious type. You know, a former neighbor we talked to said he was the kind of guy who would always refer to her as ma'am. He'd say, ma'am, hey, do you want some help with that? Can I help you bring in your groceries? Even his brother that we talked to, his brother spoke to Jabbar just a couple weeks ago and saw no inkling that there were any problems, that he was on a path to do something so horrific and even at that consulting job that he had. Someone sent me a copy of his out of office reply that was still active as of yesterday and he says he's out of town. Please expect a delay in response during this time is what he wrote. If the matter is time sensitive, please call or text me. That was the last message he had left there at his consulting job.

[Michael Barbaro]

Well, clearly behind this external image of success you're describing, something very dark is brewing. And I wonder what you're finding about that.

[Mike Baker]

Yeah, we can see that sort of behind this life of success that he was having, there were also some struggles. He had gone through two divorces. In the middle of the second one, at the start of 2022, he wrote an email to his wife's lawyer describing some financial troubles. He wrote, I cannot afford the house payment, describing past due payments, over $27,000, danger of foreclosure. So he lays out there also some difficulties in his own work in real estate. Then more recently, some of the people who knew him described him as becoming erratic. We spoke to the husband of his first ex wife and he said they had grown so concerned about his behavior that they had decided to limit the contact he was having with his two daughters.

[Michael Barbaro]

Hmm. So his first wife and her new husband think that he's now a danger to his daughters. Do we know why? They conclude that we don't know exactly.

[Mike Baker]

But they felt like his behavior was becoming more unpredictable and a little bit frightening and suggested it had something to do with his religious beliefs growing more fervent.

[Michael Barbaro]

And what evidence do we have that his religious beliefs do grow more fervent?

[Mike Baker]

Well, the FBI in a press conference, has now released more details on that question. They describe videos that Jabbar posted in the hours right before the New Orleans attack. They say he posted five videos. And in one of them, he describes how he joined ISIS before last summer that he talked about initially having the idea of harming his own family and friends. But he worried that taking an action like that would result in news coverage that would not focus on what he said was, quote, the war between the believers and the disbelievers. And, you know, what's extraordinary about these videos is he starts posting them at 1:29am on the day of the attack, and post the last one a little after 3am just minutes before the attack begins. And in one of them, he provided what the FBI described as a will and testament, suggesting that he knew he was headed to a situation where he was going to die.

[Michael Barbaro]

There was this period when attacks by people who said they had been inspired by isis, who claimed they had joined isis, became terrifyingly familiar all over the world within the past decade. And in some of those cases, the people who carried out the attacks were in direct communication with isis, often online. They were communicating with them, in some cases taking guidance from them. But in other cases, it seemed to be a process of self radicalization. People who had watched ISIS videos, read the propaganda, and then decided to act on their own. That was the case with the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. That seemed to be the case with the last major ISIS inspired attack in the US which was in 2017 in New York by a man who claimed loyalty to ISIS before he drove a truck along the west side and killed a bunch of people. Do we have any sense in this case of which version we're talking about what this man's relationship to ISIS actually was?

[Mike Baker]

That's one of my big lingering questions. You know, investigators are searching certainly for that level of coordination or communication, but haven't disclosed any at this point. We've been doing our own searching on through his really deep history on the Internet. And have yet to find any direct connections between himself and ISIS operatives. But that's certainly an open question. How did he get onto this path that he describes now in these videos?

[Michael Barbaro]

Mm. So in the end, we don't really know if this is about ISIS or an unstable person latching onto the idea of ISIS as a rationale yet.

[Mike Baker]

There are still a lot of questions to be answered here.

[Michael Barbaro]

The thing I can't get out of my head is something you said earlier, Mike, about how when Jabbar was in the military, he'd been given an award for participating in the war on terrorism. And now here we have the same person all these years later participating in an act of terrorism. And that's just really hard to wrap your head around.

[Mike Baker]

Yeah, it is. You know, I, I to your point, one of the things that has stood out to me this week was a photo that was posted in 2013 by the 82nd Airborne Division where Jabbar was serving at the time. You know, it's a photo of him sitting in front of a laptop doing his IT work for the military. And there in the comments under the photo is his mom. She writes in there how proud they are of him, and she expresses thanks to all the people who are serving in the military, protecting the country. And, you know, now that family is trying to make sense of what happened this week. You know, how Jabbar had gone from someone who was protecting Americans to someone who has now murdered Americans.

[Michael Barbaro]

On Thursday afternoon, a fuller picture emerged of the 14 victims of Wednesday's attack who had come to Bourbon street to celebrate the year that was and the year to come. They included a single mother who had just gotten a promotion at work, a 26 year old attending a bluegrass concert with his younger brother, and a recent high school graduate whose family members spoke with my colleague Christina Morales.

[Christina Morales]

So Nicaira Cheyenne Didot was 18 years old from Gulfport, Mississippi. To her close family and friends, she was known as Biscuit because her grandmother, Jennifer Smith, used to make her biscuits as a child and she used to love to eat them. And she used to call her my Biscuit. So among her close family and friends, that was her nickname. She was very close to her family. She had five siblings. She was like, probably one of the favorite grandchildren of this entire family. The proudest moment of her grandmother's life for sure was during her graduation in May. They had a party right before the actual ceremony where her mother made bouquets of money that they had given to her. And then they all got dressed. She got dressed in her like, red cap and gown. And all her family went in T shirts with her face on it. Like, even the babies of the family went in ones with her face on it.

[Michael Barbaro]

So the idea was that she would look out into the crowd on her graduation day and see every member of her family wearing a T shirt, baring her face.

[Christina Morales]

Mm.

[Michael Barbaro]

Well, what's the story of how she ends up on Bourbon street on New Year's Day around 3am yeah.

[Christina Morales]

So that was a surprise to her family and even some of her close friends, as she was in New Orleans at all. When I spoke to her family yesterday, they had no idea that she had been there. And they said that if they had known that she was planning on it, that they would have convinced her otherwise.

[Michael Barbaro]

Why?

[Christina Morales]

Because her grandmother, in particular talked about how she has always worried about these sorts of attacks, mass shootings, et cetera, on holiday. So she said that she would have convinced her otherwise to not go.

[Michael Barbaro]

And, Christina, what did the family tell you about their reaction to that information? That their daughter or their granddaughter, someone they didn't even know was in New Orleans, was there and had been one of the victims of this terror attack?

[Christina Morales]

Her grandmother told me that everyone is devastated. Her grandmother has 17 grandchildren. This is the first time she's lost a grandchild. What's particularly painful for the family to know was that in a few weeks, she was getting ready to start a new phase in her life, going to school at Blue Cliff College, majoring in nursing. She was supposed to follow in the footsteps of her mother and her grandmother, who were both nurses. One of the most poignant things that her grandmother told me in our conversation yesterday was that Nakira was a joy for the little time that they had had her. And yesterday they were really struggling, saying that it was hard to believe that she was gone.

[Michael Barbaro]

Well, Christina, thank you. We appreciate it.

[Christina Morales]

Thank you so much.

[Michael Barbaro]

On Thursday night, the Times reported that a security assessment prepared in 2019 warned New Orleans officials that Bourbon street was vulnerable to a terrorist attack involving a vehicle and that the existing system in place to prevent such an attack does not appear to work. We'll be right back.

[Christina Morales]

This episode is supported by Wealthfront. Your cash could earn 4% APY from partner banks until the moment you need it, with free instant withdrawals to eligible accounts every day. Go to wealthfront.comthedaily for a free $50 bonus with a $500 deposit when you open your first cash account. That's wealthfront.comthedaily this has been a paid ad from Wealthfront Cash Account offered by Wealthfront Brokerage, LLC member FINRA sipc. Wealthfront Brokerage isn't a bank. The APY on cash deposits as of December 27, 2024 is representative, subject to change and requires no minimum. Funds in the cash account are swept to partner banks where they earn a variable apy.

[Michael Barbaro]

Here's what else you need to know today. On Thursday, police offered new details about the explosion of a Tesla cybertruck in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day. They said that the driver of the truck, an active member of the US Military, had died by suicide before the truck exploded. Inside of the rented truck was Police said they found multiple guns, fuel and fireworks which had ignited during the incident, but they said that the soldier's motives remained unclear. Today's episode was produced by Stella Tam, Shannon Lynn, Diana Nguyen and Mooj Zaidy. It was edited by Brendan Klinkenberg, contains original music by Leah Shaw Dameron, Marion Lozano, Pat McCusker, Chelsea Daniel and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansferk of Wonderlane. That's it for the Daily I'm Michael Babaro. See you on Monday.