VETERAN TO TERRORIST: Former FBI agent weighs in on New Orleans attacker

Jan 08, 2025

News

LEE COUNTY, Fla. — How does a man, who was a U.S. Army veteran, go from protecting our country to being called a terrorist with allegiance to ISIS? It’s a question Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp asked a former FBI agent.

Shamsud-Din Jabbar is the man FBI officials say hit and killed at least 14 people and injured dozens in New Orleans on Wednesday.

The FBI quickly said this was a terrorist attack and later revealed information about Jabbar. They said he was born in Texas, became a soldier and later a real estate agent.

At some point, that changed.

“That split in the road for him will be what the FBI profilers are looking for — what was going on his life where he made that switch,” said Mary Ellen O’Toole, a former FBI agent and profiler. “At some point in his life he was able to emotionally change.”

Mary Ellen O’Toole

Topics:

Forensic Investigations

Research Areas:

Criminal investigative processes

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