A New York Instances freelance contributor mentioned Thursday a school newspaper interview he had years in the past with Shamsud-Din Jabbar, saying he didn’t appear to be the kind of one that would commit the New 12 months’s Day terror assault in New Orleans.
Keenan spoke to CNN host Paula Newton early Thursday morning in regards to the second he came upon that the suspect within the deaths of 15 folks after intentionally driving his truck via Bourbon Road was the identical man he interviewed in 2015 for Georgia State College’s faculty paper.
“My head was spinning,” Keenan advised the anchor, including, “What little I bear in mind from that interview was a really cool, calm, and picked up man.”
Jabbar attended Georgia State from 2015 till 2017 and obtained a bachelor’s diploma in laptop data techniques. Keenan interviewed him for an article about faculty life as a veteran in 2015.
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New York Instances freelance contributor Sean Keenan spoke to CNN about having interviewed the suspect behind the New Orleans terror assault almost ten years in the past. (Screenshot/CNN)
“Nothing about his character threw any purple flags,” the journalist acknowledged.
Authorities say the 42-year-old Jabbar drove his truck via a crowd gathered on New Orleans’ well-known Bourbon Road at round 3:15 a.m. on Wednesday as they rang in 2025. The suspect was a U.S.-born citizen who lived in Houston, Texas.
After ramming via the group, Jabbar exited the automobile and exchanged hearth with legislation enforcement. The suspect was killed within the encounter. Bomb-making materials have been reportedly discovered at a New Orleans Airbnb Jabbar was suspected to have rented forward of the assault. Authorities to this point consider that Jabbar acted alone in finishing up the rampage and was impressed by the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group.
The suspect had been married twice and had two kids. The FBI revealed that Jabbar additionally served within the U.S. Military as a Human Useful resource Specialist and Info Expertise (IT) Specialist from March 2007 till January 2015, and served within the Military Reserves as an IT Specialist from January 2015 till July 2020.
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Investigators search the rental residence utilized by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, January 2, 2024. A number of individuals are lifeless and dozens are injured after Jabbar rammed his automobile into crowds of New 12 months’s Eve revelers on Bourbon Road on Wednesday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox Information Digital)
Throughout his time within the Military, he deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010. The FBI believes he was honorably discharged.
Keenan advised CNN that his shock at discovering out Jabbar was able to such an assault was shared by different individuals who knew him.
“Quite a lot of my colleagues on the New York Instances talked to household and pals, they usually’re telling you this was a wild 180,” he mentioned.
Keenan continued to explain the Jabbar he interviewed as having a “reserved demeanor.”
“He was somewhat bit distant in the way in which that, you already know, you typically see from veterans who’ve had troublesome deployments,” the journalist mentioned, including that he’s “nonetheless processing all of it.”
Keenan described the 2015 interview with Jabbar in a New York Times piece following the assault. In it, the reporter acknowledged that Jabbar advised him he had bother adjusting to life after the army.
Investigators proceed to dam off Bourbon Road in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, January 2, 2024. A number of individuals are lifeless and dozens are injured after a person drove right into a crowd of New 12 months’s Eve revelers on Wednesday. (Audrey Conklin/Fox Information Digital)
“Mr. Jabbar complained that the complexity of the Division of Veterans Affairs paperwork typically made it troublesome for veterans to get their tuition and different instructional advantages paid via the G.I. Invoice, and that even a single lacking signature or sheet of paper might have an effect on an applicant’s advantages,” Keenan recalled.
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The reporter famous that Jabbar’s different grievance was that it was onerous “to speak with out defaulting to the army jargon he had adopted throughout his years within the service — and that doing so could make it troublesome for veterans when making use of for civilian jobs.”
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