Was the New Orleans attacker an immigrant, as a social media post implied? No, that's not true: The FBI and President Joe Biden said Shamsud-Din Jabbar was born in Texas and served many years in the United States Army. A widely shared video shows a man with the same name and likeness saying he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas.
The claim was implied in a post on Facebook (archived here) on January 1, 2025. It opened:
🚨 BREAKING: NOLA reports that the suspect in the New Orleans attack has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar and that he was found with an ISIS flag.
MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW!!! CLOSE THE BORDER!
This is more blood on Joe and Kamala's hands!
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Jan 2 17:04:57 2025 UTC)
According to an FBI statement released on January 1, 2025 (archived here), 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar is suspected of the attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year's Day 2025. The FBI said Jabbar was "a U.S. citizen from Texas."
On January 1, 2025, President Joe Biden addressed the nation. At the 1:13 mark of his speech, Biden said Jabbar was an American.
The FBI has reported to me, the killer was an American citizen, born in Texas. He served in the United States Army on active duty for many years. He also served in the Army Reserve until a few years ago.
A now widely-shared video (archived here) of a man identifying himself as Shamsud-Din Jabbar featured the man promoting his real estate career and discussing his nationality. At the six-second mark of the video, the man says he's a lifelong Texan:
I just want to say hello and let you know a little bit about me. So I'm born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and now live in Houston. And I've been here all my life with the exception of traveling for the military where I spent ten years as a human resources specialist and IT specialist.
For more Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving immigration, click here.
For other Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving terrorism, click here.
