OAN Staff James Meyers
2:00 PM – Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Iraqi authorities announced the arrest of an ISIS terrorist accused of helping in the New Year’s attack that left 14 dead on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
Iraqi authorities stated that their probe into the ISIS terrorist came at the request of American authorities but did not expand on exactly what started the deadly attack. Authorities also said they will not be releasing the suspect’s name.
The arrest comes just months after Shamsud-Din Jabbar of Texas killed 14 civilians and injured 57 others when he plowed a Ford F-150 through crowds of people celebrating New Year’s on Bourbon Street. Jabbar was then killed in a shootout with police.
According to a translated statement from the Iraq judiciary, the terrorist will be tried in Iraq under the nations anti-terror laws for being a member of ISIS.
“With efforts from the National Center for International Judicial Cooperation, a person involved in the terrorist ISIS organization was arrested for inciting the hit-and-run incident that occurred in the United States of America in January 2025, which led to the death of 15 people and the injury of 30 others,” the judiciary said, according to a translated version of the statement, adding that the center “received a request from the United States of America to assist in the investigations related to the terrorist operation that took place in the city of New Orleans, in which a gunman ran over a crowd of celebrants with a truck before opening fire on them.”
The First Karkh Investigation Court, “based on the investigations and analysis of the evidence, identified the identity of the accused and arrested him in Iraq as he is a member of what is called the Foreign Operations Office of the terrorist ISIS organization,” the judiciary said.
New Orleans FBI stated, “The FBI’s investigation into the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans remains active and ongoing. While we continue to work with our law enforcement partners, both in the U.S. and internationally, based on the information to date, we continue to believe that Shamsud Din-Jabbar acted alone in carrying out the attack on Bourbon Street. We continue to follow all leads and encourage anyone who may have information to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.”
Previously, the FBI said it had not ruled out the possibility of accomplices being involved in the horrific attack despite Jabbar acting alone. The bureau said the suspect had previously visited New Orleans on two separate occasions, on October 30, 2024, and November 10, 2024.
“[H]e appears to have been inspired – from afar – by ISIS. And it is, in many ways, the most challenging type of terrorist threat we face,” former FBI Director Christopher Wray told “60 Minutes” in a wide-ranging interview that aired in January. “You’re talking about guys like this, who radicalize not in years but in weeks, and whose method of attack is still very deadly but fairly crude. And if you think about that old saying about connecting the dots, there are not a lot of dots out there to connect. And there’s very little time in which to connect them.”
Jabbar was an Army veteran who was twice-divorced, showing a history of financial mishaps and missed child support payments, according to records.
During his visits to New Orleans before the deadly attack, Jabbar used Meta smart glasses to record videos of the area as he rode a bike through Bourbon Street.
On New Years Eve 2024, the Army veteran rented a Ford F-150 truck in Houston and drove to New Orleans, where he then checked into an Airbnb. Authorities claimed they found bomb-making resources and remains of a fire at the property, claiming that he covered up the heinous act by burning evidence at the Airbnb.
“It’s pretty clear so far that this is a guy who was radicalized online and who was determined to try to murder as many innocent people as he could in the name of ISIS,” Wray said in his interview with “60 Minutes.”
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