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15 Feb ’12
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Wonder if this was domestic or they came from across the border.
https://twitter.com/atawaakul/status/595008897334824960
Two armed men were killed after opening fire on a security guard outside an exhibit of artistic depictions of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in suburban Dallas Sunday evening.
The city of Garland said in a statement posted on its Facebook page that the men drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center and began shooting at the security officer. Garland Police Department officers engaged the gunmen, who were both shot and killed, the statement said.
The city said the security officer's injuries were not life-threatening. KDFW reported late Sunday that the officer, an 8-year veteran of the Garland Independent School District security force, was released from a local hospital.
The statement did not say whether the shooting was related to the event.
Authorities said they were worried that the suspects' car could contain an incendiary device. Several nearby businesses were evacuated as a precaution and a bomb squad was on the scene late Sunday night. Police had cordoned off a large area and at least three helicopters circled overhead.
The Associated Press reported that an officer dressed in SWAT gear took the stage toward the end of the event and told attendees that a shooting had occurred.
About 75 attendees were taken to another room. Later, a group of 48 people were escorted to a school bus. Authorities told attendees they would be taken to a nearby high school. A second group was set to be moved shortly after.
The New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative had been hosting a contest at the center that would award $10,000 for the best cartoon depicting Muhammad.
Such drawings are deemed insulting to many followers of Islam and have sparked violence around the world. According to mainstream Islamic tradition, any physical depiction of Muhammad -- even a respectful one -- is considered blasphemous.
Johnny Roby of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was attending the conference. He told the AP he was outside the building when he heard around about 20 shots that appeared to be coming from the direction of a passing car.
Roby said he then heard two single shots. He said he heard officers yell that they had the car before he was sent inside the building.
Pamela Geller, president of the AFDI, told the AP before Sunday's event that she planned the contest to make a stand for free speech in response to outcries and violence over drawings of Muhammad.
In January, 12 people were killed by gunmen in an attack against the Paris office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which had lampooned Islam and other religions and used depictions of Muhammad.
Though it remained unclear several hours after the shooting whether it was related to event, she said Sunday night that the shooting showed how "needed our event really was."
Geller's group is known for mounting a campaign against the building of an Islamic center blocks from the World Trade Center site and for buying advertising space in cities across the U.S. criticizing Islam.
15 Feb ’12
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looks like one of them was from Arizona
One of the suspects in the shooting in Garland, Texas, late Sunday has been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was previously the subject of a terror investigation, according to a senior FBI official.
Overnight and today FBI agents and a bomb squad were at Simpson's home in an apartment complex in north Phoenix where a robot is believed to be conducting an initial search of the apartment.
Officials believe Simpson is the person who sent out several Twitter messages prior to the attack on Sunday, in the last one using the hashtag #TexasAttack about half an hour before the shooting.
4 Mar ’12
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read an article today that said the fbi knew these guys well.
15 Feb ’12
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They released the name of the second person
Senior law enforcement sources on Monday named roommates Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi as the men suspected of opening fire on a contest for drawings of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in Texas.
The sources said their apartment in Phoenix was being searched.
Federal agents were also looking into whether the suspects carried out the attack on their own or had ties to international terror groups.
Simpson was known to the FBI and was convicted of lying to federal agents five years ago about his plans to allegedly join a terror group in Africa.
But a judge ruled that the government had only established that Simpson lied about his plans to go to Somalia, and that prosecutors had failed to prove he planned on joining a terror group when he got there.
The two attackers used assault rifles on Sunday night when they opened fire at a contest for drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in Texas, police said. The gunmen hit a school security guard before they were subdued by a police officer, and fired on by nearby SWAT officers. A spokesman for the Garland Police Department, Officer Joe Harn, told The Associated Press Monday night that police didn't know who fired the fatal shots.
15 Feb ’12
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Ahlul Bayt News Agency - ISIS appeared to declare war on right-wing blogger Pamela Geller Tuesday in an ominous online message claiming it has fighters across America ready to attack "any target we desire."
The threat, posted on JustPasteIt, singles out Geller, who helped plan a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas over the weekend, which was attacked by two gunmen. ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting early Tuesday in a radio broadcast, making it the first time the terror group called an American attack one of its own.
The chilling Tuesday post also boasts of ISIS having "71 trained soldiers in 15 different states ready at our word to attack," specifically naming only Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan and California.
"The attack by the Islamic State in America is only the beginning of our efforts to establish a wiliyah in the heart of our enemy," the message reads, apparently misspelling the Arabic word "wilayah," meaning authority or governance
"Our aim was the khanzeer Pamela Geller and to show her that we don't care what land she hides in or what sky shields her; we will send all our Lions to achieve her slaughter."
The statement is as follows:
“The New Era”
To our brothers and sisters fighting for the Sake of Allah, we make dua for you and ask Allah to guide your bullets, terrify your enemies, and establish you in the Land. As our noble brother in the Phillipines said in his bayah, “This is the Golden Era, everyone who believes… is running for Shaheed”.
The attack by the Islamic State in America is only the beginning of our efforts to establish a wiliyah in the heart of our enemy. Our aim was the khanzeer Pamela Geller and to show her that we don’t care what land she hides in or what sky shields her; we will send all our Lions to achieve her slaughter. This will heal the hearts of our brothers and disperse the ones behind her. To those who protect her: this will be your only warning of housing this woman and her circus show. Everyone who houses her events, gives her a platform to spill her filth are legitimate targets. We have been watching closely who was present at this event and the shooter of our brothers. We knew that the target was protected. Our intention was to show how easy we give our lives for the Sake of Allah.
We have 71 trained soldiers in 15 different states ready at our word to attack any target we desire. Out of the 71 trained soldiers 23 have signed up for missions like Sunday, We are increasing in number bithnillah. Of the 15 states, 5 we will name… Virginia, Maryland, Illinois, California, and Michigan. The disbelievers who shot our brothers think that you killed someone untrained, nay, they gave you their bodies in plain view because we were watching.
The next six months will be interesting, To our Amir Al Mu’mineen make dua for us and continue your reign, May Allah enoble your face.
May Allah send His peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhummad and all those who follow until the last Day.
–
Abu Ibrahim Al Ameriki
15 Feb ’12
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weird timing with Jade Helm if you ask me
ISIS unleashes 'Siren Song' on social media
Military installations from Cape Cod to El Segundo, Calif., have stepped up security amid FBI warnings that the Islamic State is trying to incite its followers in the U.S. to launch domestic terrorist attacks.
And experts say the next step to that threat is when American ISIS sympathizers they’re tracking online suddenly “go dark.”
“I think the fact that these guys are going dark now is a recognition on their part that if they stay out in the open that the FBI is going to catch them,” said Steven P. Bucci, director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
“So in addition to polishing their social media skills they’re also getting better at trade craft as far as protecting their folks so that they can potentially do something here before the FBI can get a hold of them,” Bucci said.
The security level at Department of Defense bases has been raised from Alpha — the lowest — to Bravo for the first time since Sept. 11, 2011, the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, according to Preston Schlachter, spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command, or Northcom. The order was signed by Adm. William Gortney, head of Northcom.
The call for beefed up security came after FBI Director James Comey warned of “hundreds, maybe thousands” of Americans following ISIS accounts online.
Comey said the Islamic State is leveraging social media in unprecedented ways through Twitter and other platforms, directing messages to the smartphones of “disturbed people” who could be pushed to launch assaults on U.S. targets.
“The siren song sits in the pockets, on the mobile phones, of the people who are followers on Twitter,” Comey said. “It’s almost as if there’s a devil sitting on the shoulder, saying ‘Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!’ all day long.”
Bucci noted that ISIS is “the best at social media that we’ve seen. Their followers are looking at it and saying, ‘OK if we can’t get in the main show in Iraq or Syria, I’ll do something here.’ ”
ISIS has already taken credit for the shootout in Texas outside a contest to draw cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad that left both gunmen dead and a security guard wounded.
“It’s clear that, unlike al-Qaeda, ISIS has done a very successful job of doing outreach through social media and the Internet,” said Bradley Schreiber, a former senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “They’ve been able to attract foreign fighters at a level never seen before. Al-Qaeda’s efforts were more localized. ISIS has international outreach through Western Europe and now North America.”
Added Edith Flynn, terrorism expert at Northeastern University: “I think what ISIS is doing is trying to expand its footprint across the United States and I think there is a growing problem with self-radicalization. And I think it is going to continue.”
Military installations in the Bay State that are on higher alert include Hanscom and Westover Air Force bases; Otis National Guard Base on Cape Cod; Army bases Fort Devens and the Soldier Systems Center in Natick, and Sector Southeastern New England Woods Hole.
Schlacter of Northcom said “there is no specific threat tied” to the order, but security analysts believe there must have been some concrete intelligence that prompted officials to increase security.
“There are all types of threats, and the government tends to respond to those that are real and credible threats,” Schreiber said. “There’s a whole lot of intelligence out there that’s being collected and analyzed. If they’re going to go through the process of raising the threat level, you can infer that there’s probably something out there that they’re looking at.”
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