The Curtis Culwell Center attack was carried out by two Muslims from Arizona who attacked officers with gunfire at the entrance to an exhibition featuring cartoons of Muhammad at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on May 3, 2015 The attackers shot an officer security Garland Independent School District (GISD) at the ankle. Shortly after the attackers stopped and opened fire, both were immediately shot and killed by an unserved Garland police officer who worked as a security guard. The FBI had monitored two attackers for years and a secret agent was right behind them, recording with his camera, when the first shot was fired. The agent himself was arrested and later released.
The wounded security guard filed a lawsuit against the FBI in October 2017, claiming the FBI was partly responsible for his injuries.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack plot, the first time militant groups took credit for attacks in the United States. ISIL's claim of responsibility has not been verified, and US officials have stated that the attack appears to be inspired, but not directed, by ISIL.
ISIL online personnel run by Internet troll Joshua Ryne Goldberg have posted maps to the exhibit, and urged his followers to attack the event. Goldberg pleaded guilty to federal allegations in December 2017. His person was retweeted by one of the attackers on the morning of the attack, and Goldberg claimed responsibility for inciting attacks on several news outlets and in his plea agreement.
Video Curtis Culwell Center attack
​​â € <â €
Muhammad exhibition and contest
The event, which features images of Muhammad, is advertised as "The First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibition and Contest", presented by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), or Stop Islamization America. It was hosted by AFDI along with Jihad Watch David Horowitz Freedom Center, run by Robert Spencer. The $ 10,000 award is offered for the winning cartoon, selected from 350 submissions. The prize was given to Bosch Fawstin, a former Muslim and an Islamic critic who sent six pictures, with the text "You can not draw me!"/"That's why I describe you." He raised an award for $ 12,500. Although the images of Muhammad are not explicitly prohibited by the Qur'an, prominent Islamic views oppose the image of man, especially of the prophets. Such views have gained place among certain militant Islamic groups.
The show features speeches by Pamela Geller, AFDI president, and Geert Wilders, a Dutch MP who is known for his loud criticism of Islam. Congressmen Keith Ellison and AndrÃÆ' © Carson, both Muslims, have tried to blockade Wilders from entering the United States. Wilders is currently on al Qaeda's hit list after the release of Fitna , a short 2008 film he wrote. The event was motivated by a terrorist attack on the satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo four months earlier, and was the first annual contest planned. At the time of the attack, the exhibition "The First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibition and Exhibition" was attended by about 150 people, although the number is estimated at about 200 people.
The event organizer has paid more than $ 10,000 to a total of forty unofficial police officers and private security guards. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a SWAT team, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Texas Department of Public Security (DPS) were also brought in for possible incidents. At the time, there was reported "no direct threat of credibility" of an attack.
Prior to the attack, ISIL had urged followers and sympathizers who could not join the fighting in the Civil War of Syria to conduct jihad in their home country. About three hours before the start of the contest, the FBI has warned Garland Police Department that a suspected extremist, identified as Elton Simpson's shooter, "is interested in the show" and can appear there. However, FBI officials later clarified that they have no reason to believe that the actual attack will occur in the contest. The officer later stated that they were unaware of the warning.
Location
The "First Annual Muhammad Art and Exhibition" event was held at Curtis Culwell Center, leased from the Garland Independent School District. The center previously held a fundraiser in January called "Stand With the Prophet in Honor and Respect", organized to combat the negative stereotypes of Islam. Geller has pioneered about 1,000 picnics on the show.
Prior to the commencement of the "First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibition and Contest", concerns were expressed by Garland residents about the center of the event due to the possibility of counterattack and revenge, sentiments that have also been voiced before "Standing with the Prophet in Respect and Respect" event. However, officials allowed both events to proceed as planned, as the school district was bound by a non-discriminatory leasing policy. Garland ISD President Rick Lambert said in January, "The Culwell Center is available for hire as long as you comply with the law." Because it is a public facility, the district is not allowed to discriminate on the point of view. "
Maps Curtis Culwell Center attack
Attack
A few minutes before the attack, a man, identified by the police as one of the gunmen, posted a tweet with #texasattack hashtag: "May Allah accept us as mujahidin." In his tweet, he said that he and a conspirator had pledged allegiance to "Amirul Mu'mineen", which Paul Cruickshank of CNN said might refer to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Users also ask their readers to follow Junaid Hussain on Twitter. After the shooting occurred, Hussain tweeted: "Allahu Akbar !!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire."
Just before the event was set to end at around 7:00 pm, two men wore body armor and equipped with three rifles, three pistols, and 1,500 rounds of ammunition drove to a police car parked next to an established barricade in front of the center. Sitting in a police car was Officer Gregory Stevens from the Garland Police Department and an unarmed Garland ISD security guard. The two gunmen came out of their vehicles and fired dozens of bullets at police cars, shooting at ISD Garland security guards. The men were later shot and wounded by Stevens, and eventually killed by four SWAT team members. Early news reports mistakenly claimed that Officer Gregory Stevens killed both gunmen. The Garland ISD officer, identified as Bruce Joiner, 58, was shot in the ankle. She was admitted to a local hospital and was confirmed to be released at 9:00 pm.
Authorities fear that the suspects' cars may contain burners; as a precaution, some nearby businesses were evacuated. Bomb units from the Garland Police Department, the FBI, the Plano Police Department, and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport were called to the scene. The police surrounded a large area and at least three helicopters spun on top. An officer on the SWAT device took a step towards the end of the show and informed the participants that there had been a shooting, stating that an officer and two suspects had been shot. It then confirms that there are no explosives in the vehicle. After the attack, Phoenix police began looking for two assailant apartments.
Performers
Elton Simpson 1985 - May 3, 2015) and Nadir Hamid Soofi ( c. 1981 - May 3, 2015), a roommate living in an apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, was the attacker in the attack. Simpson was convicted of making false statements about terrorism in 2011, and following pro-ISIL hacker and propaganda Junaid Hussain on Twitter. Simpson is an employee at the dentist's office, while Soofi runs a carpet cleaning business. The third person, Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem (born c. 1972), is responsible for Simpson and Soofi's housing in his home, as well as supplying them with firearms and ammunition used in the attack. According to an indictment, around June 2014, the three began to conspire to support ISIL and were thought to target a number of locations for terrorist attacks.
Elton Simpson
Simpson was born in Illinois and grew up in a suburban Westmont. He moved to Phoenix at a young age. He converted to Islam while attending Washington High School. His lawyers described him as "very obedient" and "entrenched in Islam", but said he did not seem to be a threat to anyone. Simpson was a longtime worshiper at the Phoenix Islamic Community Center, beginning around 2005, but according to mosque president Osama Shami he stopped appearing several months before the attack. The mosque has been part of a previous terrorism investigation. He attended Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona.
Simpson was the subject of an FBI investigation beginning in 2006, where he declared his intention to travel to Somalia and join fellow jihadists. He has links with Hassan Abujihaad, a former US Navy sailor who was arrested in Phoenix and convicted of terrorism-related charges. Abujihaad was once an occasional attendee at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.
In May 2009, Simpson told the FBI informant, "I'm telling you, man, we can get to the battlefield. It's time to roll." He also recorded saying, "If you get shot, or you get killed, it [heaven] instantly... That's what we're here for... so why not take that route?" In 2010, one day before Simpson was scheduled to travel to Somalia, he was arrested by federal agents as a result of a four-year investigation. The Phoenix Islamic Community Center posted a $ 100,000 cash bond to free him from detention. Simpson was found guilty of making false statements about international and domestic terrorism, and was sentenced to three years' probation and a $ 600 fine in August 2011 after lying to federal agents about his travel plans. The minor punishment was the result of US District Court Judge Mary H. Murguia, finding no evidence to conclude that he planned to join a terrorist organization. He was included in the US federal No Fly List. He had previously intended to travel with others to Syria to fight with ISIL, although his accomplices were arrested during FBI attacks simultaneously in San Diego and Minneapolis. The authorities have opened Simpson's investigation at the time of the attack.
He also interacts with Junaid Hussain, a British-born hacker and ISIL member, and Mujahid Miski, a Muslim al-Shabaab recruiter and propagandist of Muslim extremism from Minnesota, via Twitter via "secure communication". Hussain is also the founder of a pro-ISIL hacker group called "CyberCaliphate", which is responsible for cyber attacks on Twitter's US Central Command account in January 2015. A week before the attack, Simpson mentioned "The First Anniversary of Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in tweets sent to what is believed to be a Hassan Twitter account.Simpson then asks, "When will they learn?", Dan Hassan replied: "The brothers from the attacks of Charlie Hebdo did their part. It's time for the brothers at #US to do their part. "Investigators believe Hussain and Hassan encouraged Simpson to carry out attacks on US soil but also that Simpson devised an attack plan and targeted the art exhibition of his own accord.
Simpson is identified as the same user who posted a tweet with #texasattack hashtag: "May Allah accept us as mujahidin." The profile photo at #texasattack is the late Salafi American, Anwar al-Awlaki, who has repeatedly called for violence against cartoonists who insult the Muslim prophet Muhammad before being killed in a US drone strike in 2011 in Yemen. Junaid Hussain identified as ISIL propagandist suggested by Simpson to his readers to follow the same tweet.
Nadir Soofi
Soofi's father, Azam Soofi, was Pakistani, and his mother, Sharon Soofi, was an American. According to his mother, he was born at the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas and lived in Garland until the age of three. The family then moved to Plano, Texas, and then Alabama. His mother, who grew up Catholic, converted to Islam at the request of his father. Soofi was also raised as a Muslim by her father. He and his brother moved to Pakistan with their father and stepmother after their parents divorced in the 1990s. During his stay there, Soofi attended the Islamabad International School, where he was told by friends to be popular among his classmates.
In 1998, after living in Pakistan for six years, Soofi moved back to the US to live with his mother in Utah. The two then moved to Phoenix in the mid-2000s. According to his friends in Pakistan, he had difficulty adjusting to American culture while moving to the United States. He took a pre-medical course at the University of Utah beginning in the fall of 1998, but stopped in the summer of 2003. One point, he also had Cleopatra Bistro Pizza, a pizzeria and hot wings serving halal food, even though the business was struggling and eventually closed five months before the attack.
Soofi was arrested and charged over twenty minor offenses, mostly traffic violations. In June 2001, when he was twenty, he pleaded guilty to having alcohol in minors. In March 2002, he pleaded guilty to reckless driving related to alcohol, followed by another guilty plea in June 2002 for driving on a suspended license. In 2003, he was charged for distributing a controlled substance and possessing a drug tool, even though the case was later dismissed. In the same year in July, Soofi pleaded guilty to light allegations of assault. The case was also dismissed.
He survived by his parents and an eight-year-old son of a failed marriage. After the attack, his mother said his son was "brainwashed" by Simpson, a claim repeated by his father and maternal grandmother, and that he did not blame the police for killing his son.
Abdul Kareem
Kareem was born and raised in Philadelphia as Decarus Lowell Thomas. In 2013, he changed his name to Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem and converted to Islam. He has occasionally attended the Phoenix Islamic Community Center at least since 2011 and cleaned the carpet there. Kareem has a criminal record in Arizona, including two drunken driving convictions and allegedly deteriorating attacks in 1997. In a recent incident, a woman told police he was pointing a gun at him; Kareem claims he even took the weapon from his brother during the fight and did not direct it to anyone. He has been arrested eleven times between 1991 and 2004, and also served two prison terms.
After the attack, he lied to FBI investigators several times and said he was not asked by Simpson or Soofi to participate directly in the attack. However, according to secret informants, Kareem is planning to participate with them and has been angry with informants for not selling bulletproof vests and vests. He is allegedly trying to fund the attack by pretending to be injured after being hit by a car and then making an insurance claim based on injury. Earlier, Kareem was investigated by the FBI in 2012 for possession of a terrorist training document on his computer and developing a plot to attack the Super Bowl XLIX game in Glendale, Arizona with a pipe bomb. He is also reported to have accessed the list issued by ISIL, which contains the names and addresses of US service members.
He was arrested on June 11 and accused of "conspiracy, making false statements and interstate arms transportation for the purpose of committing a crime." According to the indictment, Kareem practiced shooting with Simpson and Soofi between January and May in Phoenix. According to CNN, all firearms are purchased legally. The trial was originally set for August 4, but was later rescheduled for 6 October. On December 21, Kareem was also accused of plotting to give support to ISIL and try to attack the Super Bowl XLIX game. On March 17, 2016, Kareem was found guilty of conspiring with terrorists for helping the attackers plan to carry it out.
ISIL responsibility claim
In addition to the prince's tweets promising loyalty to ISIL, the jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying on Al Bayan radio station that "two Khilafah soldiers were carrying out an attack on an art exhibition in Garland, Texas.... This exhibit depicts a negative image Prophet Muhammad. "This marks the first time ISIL takes credit for attacks on the US mainland. ISIL promised to launch further attacks in the future. At first there was no evidence that ISIL had any contact with the perpetrators, and law enforcement groups continued to investigate possible connections. Some counterterrorism experts have expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the claim, and claim that ISIL in the past claimed responsibility for an attack they did not actually commit. A US official said the attack "is clearly more than inspiring" by ISIL. A law enforcement official said the attack "does not appear to be a clear case of a wolf, or a pure case of someone who is directed by others to act"; instead, "there seems to be something between the two extremes". According to Defense Minister Ashton Carter, the shooting was inspired, but not directed, by ISIL.
In August 2015, Centcom announced that they had killed Junaid Hussain in an unmanned drone attack in Syria, because of his influence in motivating one wolf attack. US officials reportedly have a strong desire to kill Hussain, noting it as the third highest ISIL target on the Pentagon's "kill list" behind Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi and Mohammed Emwazi.
In December 2017, Jewish American Jewish internet troll Joshua Ryne Goldberg was convicted for plotting the bombing of the 9/11 2015 anniversary event in Kansas City. In communication with FBI informants, Goldberg claimed credit for inspiring Garland's attacks. Goldberg's fake personnel who used the name "Witness Australi" have posted a map of the Curtis Culwell Center and urged everyone in the area to attack "with your weapon, bomb or knife". News reports about Goldberg's online personnel calling for Garland's first offensive bring Goldberg to the FBI's attention. The FBI also found that Elton Simpson retweeted a message from Twitter handling Goldberg in the morning of the attack.
Reactions and effects
After the attack, Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a statement, calling the attack "unreasonable" and promising an ongoing investigation. He also thanked Garland police officers for their swift action against the attackers. US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said
[The attack] serves as a reminder that a free and unprotected remark, regardless of offending some, never justifies violence in any form. This attack also underscores the importance of close collaboration between the federal, state and local governments in our nation's homeland security efforts, as well as public awareness and vigilance.
Johnson urged Americans not to "mislead" their anger toward Muslims. Texas Senator John Cornyn said the contest was an expression of free speech. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attack in a statement.
Muslim organizations also reacted to the attack. The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement condemning the attack and said, "Speech speech will never be a reason for violence." Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah, National Vice President of the US chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, also said in a statement:
Violence is not an acceptable answer to hate speech, no matter how brittle and uncivilized the speech is. Although we do not yet know what motivates these shooters, we insist on calm and submissive to local, state and federal authorities to settle them peacefully and fairly.
After the attack, ISIL supporters expressed their support online by posting on the ISIL affiliate website. Bosch Fawstin, the winner of the cartoon contest, has received many death threats. The Southern Poverty Law Center plans to discuss incidents in its 2016 report on hatred in the United States. Following the attack, Garland's Independent School District announced it would begin reviewing its policies to host events at the Curtis Culwell Center.
On May 29, 2015, protesters staged a "Freedom of Speech" rally outside the Phoenix Islamic Community Center, the same mosque where Simpson and Soofi attended, greeted with counter protests. Jon Ritzheimer, a former US Marine, organized the protests lasting during Friday night prayers as "a response to the recent attacks in Texas."
On June 2, 2015, Boston police killed a Roslindale man armed with a military-style knife after the man was assigned to the officer. The man plans to kill Geller because of the contest, but becomes impatient and decides to target the local police instead.
In an interview with CNN, Geller denied that the show was deliberately provocative, criticized the media for not defending the First Amendment, and pointed out that other religions were equally offended but did not react violently. Geller then told CNN that the shooting would not stop him and AFDI from organizing similar events in the future. He said of the attack, "Freedom of speech is under a violent attack here." He also said that the shooting showed how "our show really needed."
The Chicago Tribune reported on August 1 that Soofi, despite his long rap sheet, purchased a 9mm weapon in 2010 at Lone Wolf Trading Co., one of the private companies encouraged by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Weapons Fire and Explosives (ATF) to sell weapons to people who are normally not legally allowed for such purchases, an act that would later become an ATF attack scandal. The Tribune writes that Soofi's purchase was initially held for seven days but "for reasons that remain unclear, the suspension is lifted after 24 hours, and Soofi gets 9-millimeters." The day after the attack, the US Department of Justice sent a request for an urgent firearms disposition to Lone Wolf Trading Co. At the date of the Tribune ' report, the FBI has not released details about the weapons used by Simpson and Soofi.
FBI Estimated about an attack lawsuit
The wounded security guard, Bruce Joiner, filed a lawsuit in October 2016 against the FBI and DOJ. The lawsuit debates the bureau "asking, encouraging, directing and assisting ISIS members in planning and executing the May 3 raid," and asked for more than $ 8 million in damages. The evidence submitted to the court confirmed that an FBI secret agent, dressed in middle eastern clothes, followed the attacker to the scene of the attack. When he saw the attack, he tried to escape and almost killed himself by police at the scene.
The lawsuit alleges that the FBI knew about the attack, and allowed it to continue, so their secret agent could get a "street credo" with ISIS directly. The lawsuit demanded damage because the FBI knew about the attack but made no attempt to stop it, or to warn the intended victim that danger was imminent.
Event support and criticism
Support for Geller and AFDI
In an interview with Fox News Channel The Kelly File , UCLA professor of School of Law Eugene Volokh said
[T] the type of discussion has value in the debates about Islam and about the role of Islam and about the reactions of some Muslims, fortunately only a small part of Muslims are doing these things. But beyond that there is value as a reaffirmation of our right to free speech. It has value as an act of defiance. It has value as people say: look, we will not shut up. When you tell us that we can not draw Mohammed, when you tell us we can not say these things or you will kill us, that means we will do it again and again to show that you can not threaten the Americans. become submissive.
Also on The Kelly File, Alan Dershowitz said that "Pamela Geller's critic... must realize that although he may have intended to provoke a negative reaction from Islamic extremists, he shares something similar to civil rights. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. "
Victor Davis Hanson writes in an article in the online magazine that the "radical Islam has cut off the freedom of speech America through more than a decade of death threats." He also wrote that the criticism directed at Geller for dealing with religious hatred was "frightening" and compared Geller to the cartoonist who was killed in the filming of Charlie Hebdo.
Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Wall Street Journal, delivered Geller's speech in the same category as Bill Maher or writer Charlie Hebdo - a legitimate speech against Islamism - and commented, "I say Islamist because there is a rich history of Muslim depictions of Muhammad." He also added that "people [who] blame Geller for provocation blame the victim like those who say the rape victim asked him." Stephens goes on to state that "a society that rejects the idea of ​​a wandering veto can not accept the idea of ​​a murderous veto..."
Rich Lowry, writing at Politico , defended Geller's idea that the purpose of the contest and the exhibition was about freedom of speech:
The honorable opinion can not resist the idea that he has become a symbol of freedom of speech, which at one time - and still, when comfortable - one of the highest values ​​of the media and left. If Geller was an innovative pornographer like Larry Flynt who was disgusting, someone would have planned a biopic about his life. If he is a bully who raises him to a major Western religion rather than to Islam, he may be considered more socially acceptable.
Criticism of Geller and AFDI
The day after the shoot, Donald Trump, appeared on Fox & amp; Friends , questioning Geller's motives. He said, "Looks like he's just mocking everybody What's he doing? Drawing Mohammed and it looks like he's really mocking people. (...) You know, I'm a person who believes in freedom of speech, maybe more of him. from this? "In response to Trump's comments, Bill O'Reilly said in his program The O'Reilly Factor," Mr. Trump is right, by holding a contest and giving $ 10,000 for the depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, the American Freedom Defense Initiative sparked violent attacks (...) Insulting religion with more than a billion followers does not advance the cause of defeating fanatical jihadists, it hurts the cause. "
Fox News' On Record host Greta Van Susteren criticizes Geller for putting police life in jeopardy. He said, "It is one thing for a person to defend the First Amendment and to place his own possessions that you know, but here, those who insist that they defend the First Amendment consciously put the lives of the officers on the front line - - the police.
Geller and Islamist Anjem Choudary appeared on Hannity on Fox News to debate the excellence of the AFDI contest. Responding to host questions of Sean Hannity about whether Choudary supports an unverifiable ISIL fatwa posted on an anonymous message board calling for Geller's death, he replied, "This is not Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck they are drawing.This is a prophet. drew a mocking cartoon of a well-knowing prophet who carried the death penalty in Islam, so surely he asked people to attack. "When Hannity asked if he thought Geller should die, Choudary said," He should be tried in sharia courts, convicted, and, of course, he will face the death penalty. " After Hannity reminded Choudary that Geller was not a Muslim, he continued, "You can not go down that road, insult Muslims, and think that Muslims will not retaliate.I will attack someone if they insult my mother, let alone the prophet I love 100 times more. "
Garland Mayor Douglas Athas said he hoped Geller did not choose his city for the event and explained, "His actions have made my police officers, my citizens and others in danger.The program invites burning reactions He chooses my community, which does not support in any form whatsoever, or form, ideology. (...) But at the end of the day, we do our work, we protect his freedom and his life. "
In an interview with The New York Times
See also
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments