New York // Federal agents on Monday searched the home of one of the suspects in a shooting at an anti-Islam event hosted by a hate group in Texas, and law enforcement officials confirmed that the man was convicted of a terrorism-related offence in 2011.
Elton Simpson, 30, a Phoenix resident, and his roommate, Nadir Soofi, 34, were shot dead by police guarding the event near Dallas seconds after they opened fire outside the event, injuring a security guard.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and a bomb squad were collecting evidence at the apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, a spokesman for the Phoenix FBI field office said.
Simpson was convicted in 2011 of lying to FBI agents about plans to travel to Somalia to wage “violent jihad”. He received three years of probation after a lengthy sting operation involving an undercover informant. A federal judge found him guilty of making false statements, but ruled that there was “insufficient evidence to support that the false statement ‘involved’ international terrorism”.
On Sunday evening, as an event showcasing caricatures of Prophet Mohammed was ending, two gunmen drove past the venue in Garland, Texas, and fired assault rifles at guards, according to city officials. Police returned fire and killed both men. A security guard was shot in the ankle.
About a half hour before the shooting, a message with the hashtag “#texasattack” was posted on a Twitter account thought by law enforcement officials to be Simpson’s. It apparently pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIL, saying, “The bro with me and myself have given bay’ah to Amirul Mu’mineen. May Allah accept us as mujahideen.” The title, translated as “leader of the faithful”, is also used by the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
The event was organised by Pamela Geller, a controversial figure who runs the American Freedom Defence Initiative. The organisation is classified as an anti-Muslim hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups of all ideological stripes.
Ms Geller gained prominence in 2010 during protests against the construction of a Muslim community centre in lower Manhattan. Since then she has gained visibility, fame – and financial donations – through Islamophobic publicity campaigns that have sparked debate about the line between free speech and hateful incitement. Her work was cited at length by Anders Brievik, who killed 77 people in attacks in Norway in 2011.
After court rulings in her favour in San Francisco, Washington and New York City, her group has run anti-Muslim ads on public transportation systems that stoked further controversy. Last month, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled that the New York subway system had to run an AFDI ad that depicted a representation of a Hamas fighter next to the words “Killing Jews is worship that draws us close at Allah”, followed by the tagline: “That’s his Jihad. What’s yours?” City officials says the ads incite violence and are planning to appeal.
The Garland event was held at Curtis Culwell Center because, Ms Geller said, a Muslim group held an event there earlier this year to protest against caricatures of the Prophet following the attacks in January on Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine.
“This terrible incident reflects the need for such conferences,” Ms Geller told CNN. “We are continually abridging our freedoms so as not to offend savages.”
The keynote speaker at Sunday’s event was Geert Wilders, an anti-immigrant, right-wing politician from the Netherlands. AFDI had organised the event to award a $10,000 (Dh36,700) prize in a contest it held for cartoons of the Prophet.
Video of the event shows the moment a police officer informed the room of about 200 people that a shooting had occurred. “Were the suspects Muslim?” a man in the audience shouted – the question was followed by applause.
tkhan@thenational.ae
