AP Photo/Matthew Hinton
A reporter has spoken about an interview he conducted 10 years ago with the man now suspected of conducting Wednesday's deadly attack in New Orleans.
The suspect, 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was named by the FBI following the attack, which saw a pickup truck drive into crowds on Bourbon Street at around 3.15 a.m. on New Year's Day, killing 15 people and injuring at least 35 others.
Jabbar was shot and killed by police.
Sean Keenan, a freelance contributor to The New York Times, said he recognized Jabbar from a photo shared by the FBI, and said he interviewed him for Georgia State University's college newspaper in 2015.
Keenan told CNN his "head was spinning" when he found out.
Jabbar attended Georgia State University between 2015 and 2017, studying computer information systems, according to the Times.
Keenan interviewed him back then for an article about the difficulties veterans have adjusting to post-military life.
"What little I remember about that interview was a very cool, calm and collected guy," Keenan told CNN. "Nothing about his character threw any red flags."
Keenan said he recalled Jabbar as having a "pretty reserved demeanor" and being "a little bit distant" in a way he said was familiar with veterans who had difficult deployments.
Jabbar, who served in the Army between 2007 and 2015, was deployed to Afghanistan between February 2009 and January 2010, military spokespersons said Wednesday.
He worked as a human resources specialist there, the Times reported, and later served in the Army Reserve until 2020, per the outlet.
In the interview with Keenan, reproduced in the Times on Wednesday, Jabbar talked about problems he was having adjusting to civilian language, compared to the military jargon he was used to.
"The culture isn't too much different but once you get out of the military there's so many different acronyms you've learned," Jabbar said. "You're not sure what terms are used outside of the military."
He also said he had a good experience with the university's military outreach center.
Police said they found an ISIS flag in the Ford F-150 pick-up truck used in Wednesday's attack, and authorities are investigating Jabbar's potential connection to terrorist organizations.
Chris Pousson, a retired Air Force veteran and former schoolmate of Jabbar's, told the Times that after they reconnected on Facebook in 2015, he noticed Jabbar posting a lot about his faith.
"It was never Muslim extremist stuff, and he was never threatening any violence, but you could see that he had gotten really passionate," he said.
Pousson and other former acquaintances described Jabbar as quiet and polite, per the outlet.
Reflecting on his old interview, Keenan told CNN he is "still processing it all."
