An Army vet who worked in real estate and struggled with finances: What we know about the suspect in the New Orleans attack

(CNN) — The Texas man who police suspect of killing at least 10 people celebrating New Year’s in New Orleans and injuring dozens more is an Army veteran who has worked in real estate and IT and said in court documents that he struggled with financial troubles in recent years.

Law enforcement officials identified 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a US citizen from Texas, as the suspect who they believe drove a pickup truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Jabbar, who was killed while exchanging fire with police, had potential improvised explosive devices and an ISIS flag in the truck, according to local and federal authorities.

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Jabbar was born in Beaumont, Texas, he said in a 2020 YouTube video titled “Personal Introduction,” in which he pitched himself as a professional real estate agent based in Houston.

Authorities said Jabbar served in the US Army, although officials did not immediately confirm details about his service. A 2013 US Army Facebook post identified Jabbar as an Army Staff Sergeant who worked as an information technology team chief for the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team at the time.

Serving in the military taught Jabbar “the meaning of great service and what it means to be responsive and take everything seriously, dotting i’s and crossing t’s to make sure that things go off without a hitch,” he said in the YouTube video, which has since been taken offline. He sat in the video next to a framed poster with the word “Discipline” in bold, and near a book titled “Leadership.”

Jabbar received an associate degree from Central Texas College in 2010 and a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University in 2017, according to an online resume. Both degrees were related to computer science and information technology. He later worked in business development and data engineering at the consulting firm Deloitte, according to the resume.

Georgia State University confirmed to CNN Jabbar attended from 2015 to 2017 and graduated with a bachelor’s of business administration in Computer Information Systems. Central Texas College and Deloitte did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Jabbar obtained a real estate license in 2019, and the license expired in 2023, according to records from the Texas Real Estate Commission. The records show he took a range of real estate classes on topics such as contract law and finance between 2018 and 2021. He is also listed in public records as having previously registered or being associated with several companies in Texas and Georgia.

The mother of two of Jabbar’s children sued him in Harris County, Texas in 2012 over child support, court records show. The court issued orders for Jabbar to pay amounts that increased over the years as his income grew, and that his employers withhold income for the children’s support. The documents listed his employer as the US Army in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina in 2012 and Indianapolis in 2013, as well as the company Accenture LLP in Houston in 2018. The case was dismissed in 2022.

Harris County court records also show that Jabbar pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft of between $50 and $500 in December 2002, and served nine months of “community supervision.”

In recent years, Jabbar appears to have struggled with his finances. In a January 2022 email filed as part of his divorce case, he wrote that he could not afford a payment on his house, which he said was more than $27,000 past due and “in danger of foreclosure” if his divorce settlement was further delayed.

Jabbar also stated in the email that a business he had formed, Blue Meadow Properties, had lost about $28,000 the prior year, and that other businesses he formed weren’t worth any money. He added that he had incurred about $16,000 in credit card debt.

Jabbar appears to have rented the truck he used in the New Year’s attack, a Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck, on the car rental website Turo, which lets owners rent their vehicles to other people. The truck’s owner told CNN in a text message that it was rented on Turo.

Turo did not respond to a request for comment, but the site disabled the truck for renting on Wednesday morning. Before it was disabled, the vehicle was listed as costing $105 a day, excluding taxes and fees, and it was unavailable to rent until 12:30 p.m. central time on Wednesday.

CNN’s Evan Perez and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.

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