New Orleans terror attack suspect lived in Alaska during Army service

The suspect in a New Orleans attack that killed at least 14 people Wednesday appears to have previously been stationed in Anchorage while serving in the U.S. Army.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, was killed in a shootout with police after he rammed a truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers on a packed street in the heart of New Orleans’ tourist district early on Jan. 1. Officials have described the attack as an act of terrorism and say Jabbar drew inspiration from the Islamic State.

Military sources told USA Today on Wednesday that Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, was stationed at bases including Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage and a military installation in North Carolina during his career in the U.S. Army.

Jabbar served as a human resource specialist and an information technology specialist in the Army from March 2007 through January 2015, a U.S. Army spokesperson said in an email to the Daily News.

He deployed to Afghanistan between February 2009 and January 2010, according to the Army. Jabbar then served in the Army Reserve as an IT specialist from 2015 until 2020. At the end of his service, Jabbar held the rank of staff sergeant, the Army said.

Officials did not confirm to the Daily News where Jabbar had been stationed during his time in the military. It was not immediately clear which unit Jabbar was attached to while stationed at the Anchorage base.

Little has publicly emerged about Jabbar’s time in Alaska, but a modest trail of public records threads through his time in the state: Someone with the name Shamsud-Din Jabbar applied for a Permanent Fund dividend in 2010, 2011 and 2012, according to a public records database. In 2011, Jabbar applied for a hunting and fishing license in Alaska, records show.

His ex-wife, who then went by Nakedra Jabbar, applied for PFDs in Alaska in 2010 and 2011, according to the database.

Both Nakedra and Shamsud-Din Jabbar listed addresses in Anchorage around the same timeframe.

His ex-wife was listed at an address on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson circa 2008, and Jabbar’s address was listed briefly as a mobile home off Brayton Drive in South Anchorage.

The couple divorced in 2012, according to media reports.

Public records show no evidence that Jabbar had any kind of criminal record in Alaska.

Jabbar is not the first accused mass killer to have served in the military while living in Alaska.

In 2016, Army veteran and former Alaska Army National Guard member Esteban Santiago traveled on a one-way airline ticket from Anchorage to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he opened fire at a baggage claim, killing five people.

Santiago later told investigators he had been inspired by dark web chatrooms, ISIS videos and “mind control,” according to court filings and media reports from the time.

Santiago was later diagnosed with serious mental illness and underwent psychiatric treatment before pleading guilty to the killings in federal court. He was sentenced to life in prison.