New Orleans terrorist Shamsud-Din Jabbar had been helping care for ill father, Texas imam says

The father of the US Army veteran who killed 14 people when he barreled down New Orleans’ iconic Bourbon Street early Wednesday had recently suffered an apparent stroke and was being cared for by his son, according to a Texas imam.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was shot dead by police after the New Year’s Day massacre, had visited Beaumont, Texas, early last year to help care for his father, who was recovering in physical therapy in “the aftermath of what looks like a stroke,” Imam Fahmee Al-Uqdah told KDFM.

He recalled Jabbar’s “compassion” for his father and said he seemed like a “scholarly, extraordinary human.”

“The love he was showing for his father and the care — that is what I remember,” he said.

“I’m shocked by this whole thing, that Jabbar is alleged to have committed the horrific act. It brings tears to my eyes for the innocent victims.”

Jabbar, 42, killed 14 people and wounded at least 35 others when he sped a rented Ford F-150 EV — with an ISIS flag attached — into crowds celebrating the new year on the Big Easy’s bustling Bourbon Street around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Once he finally stopped, he got out of the truck and began shooting at police officers, wounding two. Jabbar was shot dead in the shootout.

Al-Uqdah said Jabbar’s family asked him to emphasize that the “tragic incident was driven by hatred and ignorance and Jabbar’s actions do not reflect the religion of Islam. The Muslim community condemns the attack and is saddened by the loss of life.”

In videos posted to his Facebook page prior to the attack, Jabbar “pledged allegiance to ISIS,” the outlet reported, citing law enforcement officials. 

In one of the videos, the twice-divorced father of two daughters said he would murder his family. 

Sources said he may have recorded those videos while driving from Texas to New Orleans to carry out the terrorist attack.

Dwayne Marsh, who married Jabbar’s ex-wife, told the New York Times Jabbar had been acting erratic recently, leading Marsh and his wife to stop allowing him to see the two daughters they shared.

The killer’s brother, Abdur Jabbar, 24, of Beaumont, said that his brother was raised Christian. He had converted to Islam at a young age — but had become radicalized.

The attack “does not represent Islam. This is more some type of radicalization, not religion,” he insisted.

Jabbar had been living in a dilapidated trailer he rented in a Muslim neighborhood in North Houston for about a year before the heinous New Orleans terror attack.

After conducting “hundreds” of witness interviews and reviewing the terrorist’s social media accounts, the FBI confirmed Thursday that Jabbar acted alone.