Gunman in Mohammad cartoon attack in Texas monitored for years

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US | Mon May 4, 2015 3:13pm EDT

Gunman in Mohammad cartoon attack in Texas monitored for years

GARLAND, TEXAS/PHOENIX | BY JON HERSKOVITZ AND DAVID SCHWARTZ

(Reuters) - Federal agents for years monitored one of the two gunmen shot dead after opening fire with assault rifles at a heavily guarded Texas exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.

Two law enforcement officials who asked not to be named identified one of the dead shooters as Elton Simpson, under surveillance since 2006 and convicted in 2010 of lying to FBI agents over his desire to join violent jihad in Somalia. The second shooter was identified as Nadir Soofi, a roommate of Simpson, according to two sources close to the investigation.

Phoenix FBI spokesman Perryn Collier confirmed agents were at the Autumn Ridge Apartments in connection with the shooting in Texas. The complex in north-central Phoenix was cordoned off and residents were evacuated for several hours in the early morning.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/04/us-usa-shooting-texas-idUSKBN0NP01G20150504

[lapfog_1]

1. apparently not all that well monitored

since it appears this attack was planned and outfitted... and these two people drove from Arizona to Texas to kill the morons at the "Mohammad cartoon contest".

[darkangel218]

5. Exactly.

[wingzeroday]

2. This will somehow morph

Into agencies needing more invasive powers.

Reminds me of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

[darkangel218]

4. Possibly.

Do you have another solution?

[wingzeroday]

6. in short

Narrow the scope of surveillance and more aggressive follow ups and monitoring of those showing an interest in violent extremism. This guy tweeted his intention before the attack.

This administration and DOJ have done a good job in many cases of nabbing violent extremists before they act. This was not one of them. Unfortunately when some of our agencies fuck up they have a tendency to use it as an excuse to divert attention from their own intelligence and or operational failures and instead advocate for increased powers that they didn't need in the first place to prevent violent actions.

[darkangel218]

3. Monitored ..

Then how was he so close to killing these people???

[shockedcanadian]

7. I was critical of the Canadian authorities last year

when two terror attacks were success against two Canadian soldiers. I was critical for similar reasons, except in Canada there were noticeable differences. In both cases here the suspects were on the radar to such a degree that in one case the RCMP were actually in the process of watching him for hours from their car...this terrorist ran over a soldier in front of their eyes. In the second case he had been on the radar and had attended a mosque in Alberta that had a history of radicalism, he shot and killed a Canadian soldier on Parliament Hill.

My criticism of CSIS and the RCMP is in regards to how they generate business for themselves, often wasting time "chasing rabbits" and citizens who have never been threats. Low-hanging fruit with little support in fact but rather loose information and even self serving agents (google Maher Arar and you can read first hand how the RCMP passes on erroneous intel even to the U.S). I don't think the FBI have the luxury to waste resources on insincere cases as the U.S have enough legitimate and real concerns.

Ultimately you cannot stop every incident. This was a particularly difficult attack to have spotted (outside of the tweet the terrorists made) due to the proximity (they drove from Arizona), and the broad number that were probably offended by the event itself.

I am fully supportive of free speech, certainly with these types of events it can be a logistical nightmare. The lady who organized this event spent thousands on extra security alone. She might be an unpopular person, certainly these types of events wouldn't interest me, but noone has a right to respond to an offensive expression with murder, no matter the degree of provocation.