“At a news conference, investigators were uncertain of the identities and motives of the gunmen.” Yes, their motives are a total mystery!
“Gunmen at Muhammad cartoon event had more ammunition in car, police say,” by Richard A. Serrano and Matt Pearce, Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2015 (thanks to Lookmann):
A federal law enforcement official confirmed Monday morning that one of two gunmen killed when they opened fire outside a controversial Muhammad cartoon event in Garland, Texas, is a known terrorist “wannabe” whom U.S. authorities had been tracking for some years.
Elton Simpson was prosecuted in 2010 in federal court in Phoenix for making false statements to FBI agents about going to Somalia to engage in jihad, the source said. He was found guilty, but the judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the crime was directly involved to “international terrorism.” Simpson was placed on 3 years’ probation and fined $600.
The source in Arizona said Simpson was from North Phoenix. The identity of the second gunman is unclear, the source said.
Simpson and another man were killed and a security guard wounded in an attack Sunday night outside the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest, led by prominent conservatives who are critical of Islam.
Police in Garland, Texas, said at a Monday morning news conference that the two men drove up to the facility in a dark-colored vehicle, jumped out with assault rifles and started firing. They were wearing some form of body protection.
But an officer who was part of the planned security shot both men with his duty pistol, Garland police spokesman Joe Harn told reporters.
“Both men died on the street,” Harn said.
Harn did not call the shooting a terrorist attack but added that officials were investigating the evidence, including social media.
“Obviously they were there to shoot people,” Harn said of the attackers. “We will continue to investigate, but this will not be a real fast investigation.”
He said investigators searched the vehicle and detonated several suspicious items, but no bombs were found. Investigators did find additional ammunition and luggage. Harn said he did not know what was in the suitcases.
Harn praised the unnamed officer who had shot the attackers.
“He did what he was trained to do and did a very good job. He probably saved lives.”
The attackers’ “stratgey [sic] was to get into the center, but they were not able to get through our security.”
A school security officer, Bruce Joiner, who was apparently helping protect the building, was injured, city officials said.
“He was shot in the leg, transported to the hospital and he’ll be fine,” Garland Mayor Douglas Athas said.
The shooting in Garland, a suburb of Dallas, was preceded by messages from two social media accounts that expressed radical Islamic viewpoints.
One tweet, sent at 6:35 p.m., used the hashtag #texasattack. The user wrote, “May Allah accept us as mujahideen.” Attendees at the contest didn’t get word about the shooting until about 6:50 p.m.
In the earlier Phoenix case involving Simpson, an FBI informant, Dabla Deng, wore a wire and recorded conversations with him, which were played in court, according to court documents.
“I’m telling you, man,” Simpson said. “We can make it to the battlefield. It’s time to roll.” Simpson also was heard saying, “Bye bye, America!”
During meetings between Simpson and Deng, “a frequent topic was jihad and the obligation to fight jihad overseas,” according to the government’s trial memorandum in the Phoenix prosecution
On July 31, 2007, in a recorded conversation, Simpson spoke about fighting the “kaffir” (non-believers) for Allah, while “going out” from America, “because the brothers in, like, Palestine, and stuff they need help.”
“Going out,” i.e., emigrating in the cause of Islam, as Muhammad did when he moved from Mecca to Medina, establishing a pattern worthy of emulation for Muslims to whom Muhammad is the “excellent example” (Qur’an 33:21).
Simpson noted that “just the whole thing is how you get there, though.” He also spoke of Afghanistan and Iraq and specifically criticized those people who “don’t believe that they should be over there fighting.”
On the subject of fighting, when Deng stated that “I know we can do it, man. But you got to find the right people,” Simpson responded: “Gotta have connections.”
Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said the department had not been aware of any credible threats against the Sunday cartoon event, which was organized by the American Freedom Defense Initiative.
The group is led by Pamela Geller, a well-known conservative political personality who has been harshly critical of Islam.
Classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-Muslim hate group, the AFDI was behind controversial ad campaigns last year. Its ads on buses in San Francisco cast the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a “war between the civilized man and the savage.”
Note how the mainstream media quotes the SPLC as if it were a reputable source. But who watches the watchman? The SPLC is a far-Left advocacy group that uses the “hate group” designation to stigmatize and demonize all who stand for views different from its own.
Geller is perhaps best known for her opposition to what critics called the “ground zero mosque,” a cultural and prayer center that was to be built in New York about two blocks from the World Trade Center site.
In 2010, she led thousands of people in a march protesting the project, which has since been scrapped.
After the shooting, Geller posted an outraged statement on her blog. “This is a war,” she wrote. “This is war on free speech. What are we going to do? Are we going to surrender to these monsters?”
A cartoon on the AFDI’s website promoting the contest features a wild-eyed man in a turban wielding a sword, apparently the prophet Muhammad, and saying, “You can’t draw me!” The hand of an unseen artist replies, “That’s why I draw you.”
The Garland cartoon event was intended as a defiant gesture supporting free speech after the Jan. 7 terrorist attack on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Two gunmen opened fire, killing 12 members of the staff and wounding 11 others.
The Charlie Hebdo attack was prompted by the magazine’s caricature of Muhammad. In Islam, depicting the prophet is considered a sacrilege.
French police identified two brothers with Al Qaeda connections, Cherif and Said Kouachi, as the shooters. Both were later killed in a shootout with commandos.
The Garland contest reportedly received about 350 drawings of Muhammad and offered a top prize of $10,000, according to AFDI’s website.
It also advertised a $2,500 prize for the most popular cartoon, as voted by readers of Breitbart.com, a conservative website.
The keynote speaker was Geert Wilders, a right-wing member of the Dutch parliament. After seeking to ban the Koran, comparing the text to “Mein Kampf,” and calling Islam a totalitarian ideology, the controversial lawmaker faced charges of inciting hatred in the Netherlands, but he was acquitted in 2011.
Athas, Garland’s mayor, said the city was not associated with the politics of the event. “It really doesn’t have anything to do with Garland or Texas,” he said. “It just happened to be in our city. We provided security to make sure everybody would be safe.”
About 200 people attended, said Randy Potts, a contributing editor for the Daily Beast who was covering the event.
The center where the contest took place had been heavily guarded before the shooting, Potts said. “The security, as you can imagine, is pretty extensive,” he said. “Even before we came … maybe 50 to 100 feet away from the building, all around, was all blocked off.”
He was about to leave the center when “guys rushed up to us yelling, ‘Get back to the conference room!’.” he said.
A livestream of the event captured a police official in tactical gear telling the calm crowd that two suspects and a policeman had been shot.
“Were the suspects Muslim?” an audience member asked.
As Baltimore curfew ends, celebratory crowds peacefully gather
“I have no idea right now,” the police official said, and attendees were ushered back into an auditorium as police attended to the scene outside.
Potts said he didn’t hear any gunfire, but that others inside had heard one to three gunshots.
“It’s pretty calm in here; people are telling jokes,” Potts said from inside the auditorium where the audience was taken. “We all know that security was so extensive we were not actually worried someone would actually get inside the building.”
Two social media accounts tweeted messages about the attack apparently before it happened.
A Twitter account titled “Shariah is Light” — bearing the image of extremist Islamic propagandist Anwar Awlaki, who was killed in an American drone strike in Yemen in 2011 — posted an allusion to the attack just minutes before it happened.
Before the shooting, the “Shariah is Light” account also tweeted a command to follow another account, titled “AbuHussainAlBritani,” which also tweeted before and after the attack.
Six authors withdraw from PEN gala in protest of Charlie Hebdo award
Six authors withdraw from PEN gala in protest of Charlie Hebdo award“The knives have been sharpened, soon we will come to your streets with death and slaughter!” tweeted the “AbuHussainAlBritani” account before the attack.
After the attack, the “AbuHussainAlBritani” account began tweeting praise of the Texas shooting, and linked the attack to the militant group Islamic State.
“Allahu Akbar!!!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire at the … art exhibition in texas!” the account tweeted. “Kill Those That Insult The Prophet.”
“They Thought They Was Safe In Texas From The Soldiers of The Islamic State,” the account tweeted.
The accounts have since been suspended.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott condemned what he called the senseless attack in Garland and praised the police response. “This is a crime that was quickly ended thanks to the swift action by Garland law enforcement,” he said in a statement.
The FBI is providing investigative and bomb technician assistance, a spokeswoman said.
At a news conference, investigators were uncertain of the identities and motives of the gunmen….
EYESOPEN says
This to the SPLC: Truth is “hate speech” for those who hate the truth.
Westman says
A hearty THANK YOU !! To all the law enforcement and and emergency personnel who protected everyone at this gathering. You are HEROES, for doing what is rarely accomplished – preventing a mass killing before it happens. This was not another Boston Bombing or Charlie Hebdo because of you.
You may have saved American culture. The only leaders willing to put their neck on the line to preserve American and European culture were here in one place.
Thank you, all.
Westman says
A pic of the security team on Yahoo if the URL works:
http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Po5O0ezMHTfwj5dnRC0csA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTY4OTtpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/Part-WAS-Was8924346-1-1-0.jpg
jihad3tracker says
Thank you muchly, Westman —- the link worked for me. A GREAT picture of men who actually have testicles in the pants.
Let us realize that no amount of money they were paid would have brought them back from the dead if cataclysmic violence by weapons or explosives had been successful.
Mo says
@ Westman
What a fantastic photo!
It’s so good to know there are at least SOME real men left in the world!
Lia Wissing says
Praying for Bruce Joiner, the only person injured. Thank you to the police and security forces.
Undaunted says
I’ll bet I carry more ammo on my person and in my car than those dead knuckle-heads. And, I do it because knuckle-heads like those dead guys are out there… many of them. What about you?
Roderick MacUalraig says
Molon Labe.
Papa Whiskey says
Police in Garland, Texas, said at a Monday morning news conference that the two men drove up to the facility in a dark-colored vehicle, jumped out with assault rifles and started firing. They were wearing some form of body protection.
But an officer who was part of the planned security shot both men with his duty pistol, Garland police spokesman Joe Harn told reporters.
So one Garland cop went two-for-two on those varmints — and with head shots at that. Outstanding! As a friend of mine tweeted, “My favorite drawings at the Muhammad cartoon festival in Texas were the two chalk outlines out front.”
Sam Hawkins says
Papa Whiskey, you are so right!!
TWO gunmen — armed with ASSAULT RIFLES — who had the advantage of SHOOTING FIRST — and protected by BODY ARMOR
vs.
ONE cop — armed with only a PISTOL
and the cop took ’em both out!!
Yee-haw!!!
Lia Wissing says
… and he didn’t even waste any ammunition!
JamesonRocks says
Don’t mess with Texas!
More Ham Ed says
T-Shirts w/ a photo of the building, parking lot and chalk outlines, anyone in the shirt-stamping or manuf. business?
jihad3tracker says
Let me jump in here to say as emphatically as I can : WATCH THE CNN VIDEO WITH PAM GELLER —- posted right before this one.
PAM GELLER IS THE MOST COURAGEOUS WOMAN ON THIS PLANET — Her remarks were perfect — utterly on point, relentlessly.
As proof that miracles still happen, she encountered only a small bit of “talking over me to silence me”.
Two priceless moments come at around 8:30, when Pam reacts to something absurd being said, and at approximately 12:00, when the CNN privilege-guilt KnowZip seems to realize she is being eaten alive.
BUT THE ENTIRE CONVERSATION IS WORTH WATCHING —- tell all of your family & friends to view it.
Neil Jennison says
But Wilders is wrong to try to ban the Koran. On the contrary, everyone should read it……..then the truth will be known by all.
Beagle says
Wilders argues in the context of a nation which bans books. From an American perspective his position is unreasonable, but the Netherlands actively bans and destroys books. Do some research on “The Downfall of the Netherlands” being banned, among other examples.
gravenimage says
Neil, the often-cited idea that Wilders has sought to have the Qur’an banned is not really accurate. In an interview he noted that Mein Kampf is banned in much of Europe, but that the calls for violence in the Qur’an are just as dangerous.
Ashley says
Here’s some information on the second asshole:
“According to public records, gunman Nadir Hamid Soofil, 34, is Texas native. He attended University of Utah and lived in Salt Lake City for a time before moving to Phoenix, the I-Team reports. His Facebook profile shows him to have also lived in Islamabad, Pakistan, for a time.”
Ashley says
CORRECTION: The article I copied the above from misspelled the last name. It is SOOFI.
jewdog says
Now that the assault with firearms has been dealt with, expect the usual assault on free speech by the anti-racism brigade.
gravenimage says
You aren’t wrong, Jewdog. Here’s HotAir with more on this disgusting phenomenon:
“The toxic implication that Pamela Geller had last night’s terror attack in Texas coming”
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/05/04/the-toxic-implication-that-pamela-geller-had-last-nights-terror-attack-in-texas-coming/
It’s generally a good article, save for this, where it claims that the AFDI event was “specifically designed to provoke an inflamed response”. Of course, this is not true—the point of the event was to assert our right to freedom of speech in the face of Muslim threat.
Apart from this, it gives a good sense of much of the MSM apologia for Jihad terror.
Walter Sieruk says
As for free speech the this violent jihad attack commit by those Muslims with all their murderous intent on that Muhammad cartoon show does indeed expose that the A.F.D.I had a good point in what it prints about Islam. Likewise, Pamela Geller must have a good and valid point that what she says a and writes about Islam having a violent effect of some of the people who fellow it. In contrast, in the North East in the city of New York there was a Museum display that was offense to Catholics yet no engaged in violence because o that “art” display. Such a difference by those differentgroups of religious people, ,Catholics and Muslims, is worth noting
abad says
Bingo, Walter. But that is also a sign of maturity – what Christianity has and Islam never will. A Christian may peacefully picket or just say “I won’t be wasting my money on a questionable movie that is anti-Christian” but no Muslim is capable of doing that.
My guess is because their thought process has been sacrificed for this whole “submission to Allah” BS.
Yes Sir.
duh_swami says
an outraged statement on her blog. “This is a war,” she wrote. “This is war on free speech. What are we going to do? Are we going to surrender to these monsters?”
What??? What is outrageous is that the coward who wrote ‘outrageous’, is a slime ball dullard…Her remarks were right on the money…
gravenimage says
Swami, “outraged” is not the same as “outrageous”. “Outraged” means that Pam was angry, not that what she said was outrageous.
st. patrick says
Wish I could have been there with the security team..Good job guys and thank you..
Oliver says
On ‘ BEST OF THE WEB’ a Wall Street Journal (editorial) blog, the following was a ‘tweet”: there are two camps in the world: those that believe sovereignty belongs to mankind & those who believe it belongs to Allah.” (“Saw” is an abbreviation for the Arabic phrase meaning “peace be upon him.”).
I think that sums up everything.
Sovereignty- to whom does it belong? Humanity or those savages?
John in Houston says
Will any of the entries of the exhibit be made into t-shirts…perhaps with part of the proceeds going to help victims of Islamic terror?
Charles Barclay says
Why was there no pro-Islam, counter protesters outside this event? What did they know that kept them away?
abad says
All the comments and news items of the AFDI/JW Texas free speech event have Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” going through my head all day long.
A HUGE thank you to Pamela Geller and of course Robert Spencer for never backing down to our archenemy.
No Fear says
“Were the suspects muslim?”
No, the media assures us that Islam is a religion of peace.
The suspects were non-muslim.
mr clem snide says
you just know that whenever a reporter or journalist stoops to citing the SPLC , they are experiencing an intellectual and moral poverty too desperate for lucid description.