A Pamela Geller sponsored event in Garland, Texas, “Jihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest,” at which Geert Wilders, an anti-Islamist Dutch politician, gave the keynote speech, was the scene of an attack last night by two gunmen. Both of the attackers were killed by local police. One security guard was wounded, but has been treated at an area hospital and released according to at least one news report.
A Twitter account associated with the terrorist organization, ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Daily Mail has reported that one of the gunmen, identified as Elton Simpson, was the subject of an FBI investigation into possible links with overseas Islamist groups. The Dallas Morning News has more details:
A senior FBI official confirmed that one of the suspects in the attack has been identified as Elton Simpson, an Arizona man who was previously the subject of a terrorism investigation, ABC News reports. […]
KPNX-TV (Channel 12), an NBC affiliate in Arizona, reported that the two suspects had been roommates. The second man, though, has not been named officially or in media accounts.
Simpson was well known to the FBI, ABC News reported. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa, “but a judge ruled the government did not adequately prove he was going to join a terror group there.”
Twitter reports by various journalists and others have reported the sound of a large explosion near the site of the attack. Authorities feared the car used by the gunmen was wired with bombs or incendiary devices. Both local and FBI Bomb squads are reportedly on the scene.
The only response I can make to any violent attack of this type, regardless of the justification advanced by the perpetrators, is to condemn those responsible.
