Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s former commanding officer speaks out about New Orleans’ attacker’s radicalization
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Col. Richard Groen described how the attack served as ‘a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked anger, isolation, and hate’. The former commanding officer of New Orleans’ attacker Shamsud-Din Jabbar has spoken out on social media about the soldiers’ disturbing radicalization.
![[The US Army Colonel rallied those affected by the attack to ‘stand together against hate in all its forms’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/03/11/Rich-Groen.jpg)
Jabbar, 42, from Houston, killed 14 people and injured 35 others in the early hours of Wednesday morning after he rammed a truck into a crowd of revelers on Bourbon Street before being shot dead by police. Groen described Jabbar’s transition from a “great soldier” to someone who “could harbor so much hate” as “incomprehensible and heartbreaking.”.
As Jabbar drove the truck, a series of his videos appeared online which showed him professing his support for ISIS. The 42-year-old veteran claimed to have joined ISIS in the summer before he planted explosive devices in the area before the attack. “To think that the same individual who once embodied quiet professionalism could harbor so much hate, leading to such unspeakable atrocities, is incomprehensible and heartbreaking”, Groen added.
He described how the devastating events that unfolded in New Orleans had left him in a state of “utter disbelief”, adding: “This transformation is a stark reminder of the dangers of unchecked anger, isolation, and hate.”. During his tenure as a soldier Jabbar “worked quietly and professionally in the S1 shop [an administrative unit] and as a mail clerk, ensuring the little things that kept us all connected to home were done with care and precision.
