The suspect in the New Orleans truck attack served in the US military, according to Reuters

(Reuters) – Shamsud-Deen Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas man accused of crashing a truck into a New Orleans New Year’s party that killed 15 people and injured dozens more, served 13 years in the U.S. Army. To Afghanistan, there is the army.

Federal officials and local law enforcement in New Orleans say Jabbar did not act alone and are looking for accomplices. The FBI said Jabbar had an Islamic State flag on his truck and is treating the attack as an act of terrorism. The Islamic State, or ISIS, is a Sunni Muslim militant group that has carried out attacks around the world.

While the investigation is ongoing, no information has yet been released as to why Jabbar, a US citizen who grew up in Texas, carried out the New Orleans attack. Jabbar died at the scene in a shootout with police, officials said.

Jabbar served in the Army from 2007 to 2015 as a human resources specialist and information technology specialist, and then joined the Army Reserve as an IT specialist until 2020, and at the end of his service, he held the rank of staff sergeant, an army official said.

Jabbar was deployed to Afghanistan from February 2009 to January 2010, the official said.

In addition to serving in the Army, Jabbar enlisted in the Navy in August 2004 under a delayed entry program but was discharged a month later, a Navy official told Reuters.

Corporate records show Jabbar has been involved in a series of business ventures in recent years.

In the year In a 2020 promotional video posted on YouTube for a real estate business, a man with the same name as the suspect said his time in the military taught him the importance of great service and that he takes everything seriously.

“I’ve taken those skills and applied them to my career as a real estate agent, where I feel my ability to be a strong negotiator sets me apart from other agents,” he encourages clients. to call him.

In the video, the man introduced himself as a manager at Texas-based Blue Meadow Properties LLC, whose license was issued in 2011.

He was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas.

Reuters was unable to locate anyone on the video when it reached Jabbar. Attempts to contact Jabbar’s relatives were also unsuccessful.

The FBI believes Jabbar rented the Ford (NYSE: ) pickup truck he used to drive into the crowd in the New Orleans French Quarter in the early hours of Wednesday. Jabbar opened fire on the police, killing at least 10 people and injuring 35 others.

The ISIS flag on the truck prompted an investigation into possible links to terrorist organizations. Investigators found weapons and an explosive device in the vehicle, as well as other explosives in the French Quarter.

“We do not believe that Jabbar is solely responsible. “We will aggressively eliminate every lead, including his known associates,” FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan said in a statement Wednesday.