Officials said Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect in the New Orleans terror attack, was inspired by ISIS as he became radicalized over the years.
But Chris Pousson, who was friends with Jabbar during their middle school and high school days, told KNX News’ Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman that the 42-year-old wasn’t always like this, especially when he was a kid.
“Back then, he was very, very reserved, very quiet,” Pousson said. “He wasn't a troublemaker, didn't act out in class. He did his work. He was very smart and then after graduation, you know, he went up going on to the army and then I went up joining to the Air Force.”
The two lost contact after graduation but reconnected on Facebook where Pousson said the two exchanged messages. He said it was on Facebook that Jabbar became more outspoken about his faith and beliefs.
“It kind of got to a point to where he was so deep in his faith and in his beliefs that every conversation we had at that point - or every post that he was making - it revolved around some type of Muslim Islamic ideology,” he said. “And I'm not too well versed in that area, so I didn't wanna hold a conversation and not know what I was talking about.”
Pousson said the last time the two spoke was at the end of 2018, the beginning of 2019.
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“He fell off my radar and then, you know, yesterday happened and then that was the first time I've heard of him since the last time we spoke,” he said.
Pousson said when a mutual friend told him about the shooting and Jabbar’s involvement, he couldn’t believe it.
“I told him at the time, ‘it's probably just a mistaken identity. Wait for the story to unfold. It may be somebody else,’” he recalled. “More news reports came out and [the] investigation was done, you know, it was Sham. It was a big surprise. It was hard to believe.”
The FBI said Jabbar acted alone in the attack.
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