Lauren McGaughy
Appearances
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
Sure. Well, we know that he started a handful of realty ventures in Texas, and then he also had a realtor's license here. But state business records also show that two of his ventures recently went defunct just in the last few years. He also went through divorce proceedings here about five years ago. That's according to court records.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
And those show that he and his ex-wife were fighting over money and that they had a child together. He posted a YouTube video for one of these businesses, which has now been taken down. But in the video, Jabbar said he was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas, and spent time in the military.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
U.S. Army spokesman said that Jabbar served from 2007 to 2015 and then switched to the reserves. He was a human resources and IT specialist, so he mostly worked in those roles. But he also did have one overseas deployment to Afghanistan for about a year in 2009. And when he left service, he held the rank of staff sergeant. We were also able to speak to a U.S.
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New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
official not able to speak on the record who told NPR's Tom Bowman that Jabbar was honorably discharged, but that he did have disciplinary problems while in the military. And in that YouTube video I mentioned, Jabbar said his time in the military taught him to, quote, take everything seriously, dotting I's and crossing T's to make sure that things go off without a hitch.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
We were able to confirm that after the Army, Jabbar went to school at Georgia State University in Atlanta and graduated with a degree in computer information systems. And his resume also included a brief stint at the consulting firm Deloitte. And he ended up living where? So we were able to trace Jabbar's last known address to a neighborhood in northwest Houston.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
Our reporters from Houston Public Media said by Wednesday afternoon, the place was just completely swarming with police investigating the attack. including FBI agents. The house he supposedly lived in was a small, white, kind of portable-style home with a big black gate, and there were a lot of cars outside the home, but our reporters were unable to speak with anyone inside.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
They did talk to some of Jabbar's neighbors. This is Francois Venegas, who has lived in the area for a couple of years. This is a Muslim community, and there are no problems here. He said it's a Muslim community and they don't generally have any problems there. Venegas said he's seen Jabbar around the neighborhood and that they've waved at each other, but that he didn't know him well.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
And just one more thing regarding the car that Jabbar was driving. Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor of Texas, said that Jabbar rented it on December 30th and was seen driving around Houston in it before the attack.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
The FBI says it deployed specialty teams to the neighborhood where Jabbar lived. That's bomb technicians, counterterrorism investigators, crisis negotiators. But the Bureau also asked people to just avoid the area. They even put some temporary flight restriction into place. And it indicated search warrants were being executed in multiple states.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Attack, Suspect's Texas Home, Las Vegas Truck Explosion
You're welcome.