TX Shots fired at a free-speech "draw Muhammad " event in Garland TX

[Dogface]

Have you been reading the Freddy Gray thread? He is a victim, too. I am not saying it's right, but that in fact, it does happen.

Actually after the threads on Michael brown I had zero interest in following Freddie Gray. Usually post that are name calling to victims are deleted. However I will say that I think discussing ones legal past with officers is conducive simply because it may alter how they react with police.

 

[nrdsb4]

There was quite a police presence at this event.

I did think I heard on local news that a SWAT team was on the premises, "in the back of the building," and it was actually a Garland police officer who exchanged fire with the perps. Kind of wonder if the SWAT team was actually practicing much vigilance. I would be glad to hear that they weren't just hanging out putting in their time and not taking the threat inherent in a function of this kind seriously.

The Garland cop killed both attackers, even though they were allegedly wearing body armor. He must be a really good shot.

 

[cady]

Well, the contest winner got ten grand, so that's cool. Not funny and really not clever, but got the message across. JMO I am not sure, but I don't think that it was Muhammad who told the peeps not to draw him, however. I think that command came after his death. JMO

 

[RANCH]

There was quite a police presence at this event.

I did think I heard on local news that a SWAT team was on the premises, "in the back of the building," and it was actually a Garland police officer who exchanged fire with the perps. Kind of wonder if the SWAT team was actually practicing much vigilance. I would be glad to hear that they weren't just hanging out putting in their time and not taking the threat inherent in a function of this kind seriously.

The Garland cop killed both attackers, even though they were allegedly wearing body armor. He must be a really good shot.

The officer who killed the attackers did extremely well IMO.

A traffic officer working after hours as security for the event and armed only with a service pistol killed both men, who were wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles, Garland Police Department spokesman Joe Harn told reporters Monday.

A SWAT reaction team raced to the parking lot to back up the patrol officer, and police inside the center shepherded audience members to a more secure location inside the center's auditorium.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/04/us/garland-mohammed-drawing-contest-shooting/

 

[Elley Mae]

Nadir Soofi

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...g-fire-outside-prophet-muhammad-cartoon-show/

Gunman outside Muhammad cartoon event identified as suspected militant sympathizer

bbm, Oh looky they have coined a new name other then muslim extremists. jmo idk lol

 

[Elley Mae]

‘My Son Made a Bad Choice’

http://abcnews.go.com/US/official-texas-shooting-suspects-ided/story?id=30782088

“We are Americans and we believe in America,” Dunston Simpson said. “What my son did reflects very badly on my family.”

IDK Sure doesn't sound very sorry. jmo

 

[Dogface]

I really thought the winning drawing was very thought provoking. I'm not sure who says you can't draw Muhammad, but the drawing summed up the problem with drawing him quite well.

 

[sonjay]

Well, the contest winner got ten grand, so that's cool. Not funny and really not clever, but got the message across. JMO I am not sure, but I don't think that it was Muhammad who told the peeps not to draw him, however. I think that command came after his death. JMO

Regardless of when that edict came about, it's clear that many Islamic adherents take it quite seriously. Just ask Molly Norris.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Draw_Mohammed_Day

Molly Norris drew the original, poster-like cartoon on April 20, 2010, which declared May 20, 2010, to be the first annual "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day". The drawing showed various anthropomorphized objects, including a coffee cup, a cherry and a box of pasta, each claiming to be the likeness of Muhammad.

On July 11, 2010, it was reported that the late Yemeni-American al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki had put Molly Norris on a hitlist.

FBI officials reportedly notified Norris warning her that they considered it a "very serious threat."

Norris has since changed her name and gone into hiding.

The threat against Norris appeared to be renewed when Al Qaeda's Inspire included her in its March 2013 edition with eleven others in a pictorial spread entitled "Wanted: Dead or Alive for Crimes Against Islam," and captioned, "Yes We Can: A Bullet A Day Keeps the Infidel Away."

As of 2015, Norris is still in hiding and jihadist threats against her life continue.[154] She has been forced to seek safety from jihadist threats by abandoning her career, her friends, and her community.

 

[SStarr33]

This is what should have happened with those crazy gunmen in France.

 

[time]

‘My Son Made a Bad Choice’

http://abcnews.go.com/US/official-texas-shooting-suspects-ided/story?id=30782088

“We are Americans and we believe in America,” Dunston Simpson said. “What my son did reflects very badly on my family.”

IDK Sure doesn't sound very sorry. jmo

What exactly is it that you want from them. What if they said nothing, would that be better?

Dunston Simpson said his son worked at a dentist’s office but was “on vacation” for the last few weeks and that the two last spoke three weeks ago. But they “had not much to talk about, because we had some very serious differences.

http://www.610kvnu.com/national/bd96a555344c05f7d347dafc31503b04

 

[Elley Mae]

What exactly is it that you want from them. What if they said nothing, would that be better?



http://www.610kvnu.com/national/bd96a555344c05f7d347dafc31503b04

bbm yes, he is an adult, I don't want to hear from his mommy & daddy. jmo

 

[i.b.nora]

Joe Harn, Garland Police Department Spokesman said:

- The two did not get past the outer perimeter that the police had set up, outside the parking lot.
- Security plans were put in place 'several months ago'.
- A swat team was in the back of the building.
- Pamela Geller et al paid an additional $10,000 to the Garland Police Department (and she herself said that they had their own private security force and spent upwards of $50,000 on security).

Pamela Geller has said she has traveled with armed security guards for the last ten years.

Asked in the FoxNews interview she did today if she would do this (a gathering like this) again, she replied "Yes, I will do this again." "We will not abridge our freedom of speech in order to, you know, not offend savages."

I think it was this Fox interview where she said she did not think that she personally was the target.

Note: In another interview with CNN, overnight or earlier this morning, she denied EVER referring to Islamists as "savages". And, to my amusement, shortly after her denial to the interviewer (its the CNN interview at Mediaite, linked to here earlier today) she actually did use it in one of her answers. So, its obviously part of her rhetoric.

Whatever, she is allowed to say whatever she wants. But, of course there is always that 'personal responsibility' factor to keep in mind, imo.

 

[Brightbird]

bbm yes, he is an adult, I don't want to hear from his mommy & daddy. jmo

The son is dead.

 

[Sulamith]

I had no idea that a SWAT team could be hired out.

 

[CuriousGuy]

Just because someone has the right to say what they want doesn't mean they are not despicable human beings operating on a lower plane of consciousness. Hate begets hate. You may have the freedom to say anything you want, but realize it is that very hate you are spewing that is hindering your own evolution as a human being. JMO

So speaking up against sharia law is now considered hate. Nice to know. But stoning gays and executing women for adultery isn't hate. Got it.

 

[Brightbird]

I wholeheartedly believe in a citizen's right to free speech. This group's contest is most certainly a protected right.

But I do think it is also prudent to know that when poking a bee hive with a stick, protective gear is a good idea.

I am not saying that it was inevitable, but it was likely. Just because your speech is protected, it doesn't mean you haven't placed yourself in a tenuous position. It sucks, but sadly this is the world we have made.

What I don't get is why being a target of Islamic extremism means your views are off limits for criticism. Yes, the people at the event are victims. But the particular views they're espousing are not somehow victims. This thread opened with praise for them being courageous defendants of free speech. All I want to say is that I condemn the attacks, but I also reject their take on the world and I'm not going to pretend it's all good because, hey, free speech and they were shot at. It seems like you can't condemn the attacks as well as their views without apologising for yourself.

 

[i.b.nora]

Hesitant to post this but FoxNews says second suspect is named Nadia Sufy (spl) ???

I will have to look at other sources.

 

[i.b.nora]

CNN - The second shooter in the Garland, Texas, attack has been identified as Nadir Soofi, two law enforcement officials told CNN's Pamela Brown.

Soofi is the roommate of the other shooter, who was identified earlier as Elton Simpson. Soofi is not well-known to federal law enforcement and was not on the FBI radar, one of the officials said.

 

[cady]

Hesitant to post this but FoxNews says second suspect is named Nadia Sufy (spl) ???

I will have to look at other sources.

Someone upthread wrote "Nadir Soofi" different spellings, but a person I knew was Nader (male) There are Sufi moslems, but the name spelling may change. Nadia is female, I believe. This guy was male. JMO

 

[K_Z]

The father of one of the suspected gunman in the Garland, Texas shooting told ABC News today that his son “made a bad choice.”

“We are Americans and we believe in America,” Dunston Simpson said. “What my son did reflects very badly on my family.”

Followers of ISIS had been sending messages about the event in Texas for more than a week, calling for attacks. One referenced January's Charlie Hebdo massacre in France and said it was time for "brothers" in the United States to do their part.

Simpson was well known to the FBI. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa where investigators alleged he planned to join a terror group.

The investigation into Simpson reached back to July 2007, when he was recorded saying of fighting with Islamists, “I know we can do it, man. But you got to find the right people that… Gotta have connects.”

"We'd been tracking his online activities. He's been on our radar for a long time -- but there was no indication of any attack coming," a senior law enforcement official told ABC News.

Kristina Sitton, who represented Simpson in the 2010 trial, said her former client had been on a no-fly list and that the FBI had attempted to get Simpson to cooperate with them, even after his conviction.

BBM.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/official-texas-shooting-suspects-ided/story?id=30782088

Sounds like it was not exactly a huge surprise to this father to find out his adult son had become a terrorist. That's just a bit worse, IMO, than "making a bad choice." And yet, the father can only seem to phrase this in terms of how it reflects on his family, and even deferring to his parental grief, I can't agree with that outlook. Elton Simpson was a terrorist-- he just had not done anything "bad enough yet" that he could be stopped. And that's a big frustration that every American should be concerned about, IMO.

I'm glad he wasn't a very good terrorist, and no one else died. Who knows what terror plans he and his roommate were planning next. I don't mourn his death.