New Orleans attack could embolden ISIS to try to radicalize other Americans, experts say
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Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s New Year’s massacre in New Orleans, carried out with a pickup truck flying an ISIS flag, could embolden the terrorist organization to radicalize more Americans, experts told Fox News Digital.

Jabbar’s younger brother told the New York Times that he and his Army veteran brother were raised Christian in Beaumont, Texas before the now-deceased attacker converted to Islam as an adult.

“What he did does not represent Islam,” the younger brother said. “This is more some type of radicalization, not religion.”

Investigators search the rental home used by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans

Investigators search the rental home used by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans, Louisiana on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2024. Multiple people are dead and dozens are injured after Jabbar rammed his car into crowds of New Year’s Eve revelers on Bourbon Street on Wednesday. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

Most people who are radicalized are done so by online materials, said John Ryan, who served as chief of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department.

“Him being an IT person, it would mean he probably knows how to access the dark web where a lot more material is available,” he said about Jabbar’s background in information technology.

“In regards to whether it could trigger other people, sadly there are a lot of keyboard warriors who are being exposed to this and searching for something to connect to. Given the high level of mental health issues in the aftermath of COVID and the number of protests in support of Hamas and pro-Palestine and anti-Israel, the answer is yes. Mostly lone wolf type of people.”

Although law enforcement officers were initially searching for accomplices in the attack, the FBI said on Thursday that it appears Jabbar acted alone. However, Swecker said, that does not discount the possibility of an active terror cell within the country. 

“If his radicalization was as a result of the propaganda and calls to action from ISIS on the internet, this is [still] international terrorism. We’re calling him homegrown, but it’s directed from a terrorist organization,” Swecker said. 

“Even if he doesn’t carry a card, even if he isn’t on the phone with the ISIS director but he’s being called to action by propaganda on their websites, it’s still international terrorism,” he said. “That’s very much a part of the playbook for Al-Qaeda and these international groups.”

Jabbar was stationed at Fort Bragg, now called Fort Liberty, in North Carolina, as was active-duty U.S. Army soldier Matthew Livelsberger, who police said intentionally created and died in an explosion that injured seven outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.

Investigators have uncovered no evidence of a connection between the Bourbon Street terror attack in New Orleans and Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas, despite the suspects’ shared military history.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar and Matthew Livelsberg

The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that blew up outside Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on New Year’s Day has been identified as active-duty U.S. Army soldier Matthew Livelsberger, pictured right. Livelsberger’s attack took place within hours of Jabbar’s in New Orleans. (Fox News)

“If they served at the same base, I think I’m still very open and there’s a distinct possibility that they linked up on the internet or with their prior military associations,” Swecker said. “If [Livelsberger] was a convert, he would have been going to the same [religious] services as [Jabbar].”

“What [Jabbar] did and what happened in Las Vegas does give credibility to the movement and creates that excitement in others who may be thinking about it [carrying] on their plan in a short timeframe,” Duffey said.

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