Texas shooting: Two gunmen shot dead outside Muhammad exhibition – rolling coverage
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Version 0 of 1. 10.04pm AEST13:04 Summary This blog is coming to and end. These are the key developments so far. 9.37pm AEST12:37 A British man fighting for the Islamic State terror group in Syria posted a string of tweets supporting the attack on the Curtis Cullwell Center. In the minutes following the attack, Junaid Hussain, from Birmingham, who now goes by the alias Abu Hussain al-Britani, wrote a message under the hashtag #TexasAttack saying: “They Thought They Was Safe In Texas From The Soldiers of The Islamic State.” As it became clear that the two gunmen involved in the attack had been killed, Hussain added: “The 2 Brothers attained shahdah in texas! O Kuffar know that death is better than living humiliated! Allahu Akbar !!!” “Shahda” in the context appears to be an alternative transliteration of Shahada, an Islamic creed declaring belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as the true prophet. Hussain’s account was shortly afterwards suspended by Twitter, but his tweets were grabbed and reposted by at least one other user. He has previously used various accounts on the microblogging site to urge attacks in the West and encourage others to travel to Syria to join the IS insurgency. One of the most high-profile Britons inside Islamic State, Hussain was jailed in 2012 for hacking Tony Blair’s office computer then publishing the former PM’s address and national insurance number online. In January he was identified as the lead suspect in a hack of the US Central Command Twitter page. Updated at 9.44pm AEST 8.30pm AEST11:30 The American Freedom Defense Initiative paid for 40 police officers to work as security at their Prophet Mohammed cartoon drawing competition, Dallas News reports, shedding light on how the gunmen who attacked the event were killed so quickly. The paper, which had a reporter present described “thick security that included Garland police, school district security and private guards”. It said the cost of hiring in the officers was $10,000, an expense which Pam Geller, the event’s organiser, described as “the high cost of freedom.” Meanwhile, the security man injured in the shootout has been identified in local media as Garland Independent School District officer Bruce Joiner. The 58-year-old was treated in a nearby hospital after he was shot in the ankle, but was released less than two hours later, according to local TV station NBC DFW. Bosch Fawstin, who was due to collect $10,000 after his Muhammad caricature won the event, told the paper that when he saw how much security was in place was around the event he didn’t believe there would be any danger. WVTM 13 said the around 200 people who attended the event had to buy tickets in advance and go through metal detectors in the way in. “We were prepared for something like this,” the news station quoted Joe Harn, a police spokesman, as saying. 6.15pm AEST09:15 Twitter suspends #texasattack account Attention is focusing on a tweet sent 15 minutes before the first reports of the shooting from a now-suspended account with the username “Shariah is Life”, in which an individual indicates he his preparing to make an attack. It includes the hashtag #texasattack. The writer pledges allegiance (bay’ah) to Amirul Mu’mineen, Arabic for “Commander of the Faithful”, before adding: “May Allah accept us mujahideen”. A Guardian Australia reporter was able to take a screengrab of it before the account was suspended. It is timestamped at 9.35am Sydney time, which is 6.35pm Central Daylight Time in Texas. That’s 15 minutes before Garland Police Department received its first reports of gunfire at the Curtis Culwell Center. The account had posted a number of tweets supporting Islamic extremism, including the Islamic State terror group in the Middle East. Its profile picture shows Yemeni-American al-Qaida recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, who in 2011 became the first US national killed by a drone strike. Other tweets grabbed before the account was shut down suggested the individual behind the account was a newly converted Muslim, including statements like “I don’t know Arabic” and “my fam didn’t trip when I became a Muslim”. Updated at 6.25pm AEST 5.33pm AEST08:33 Summary Here’s a short summary of events as they stand at the moment: Updated at 6.15pm AEST 4.42pm AEST07:42 This audio is a brief excerpt from the immediate aftermath of the shooting inside the American Freedom Defense Initiative event in Garland, Texas. In the recording a police officer informs the guests about the shootings, and said he is concerned about the possibility of explosives. The guests are requested to move to another location. One audience member asks “are the suspects Muslim?” The officer responds that he has “no idea right now” and says they are going to move the people away from the front of the building quickly. There is nervous laughter from the crowd, and then scattered clapping. Updated at 4.58pm AEST 4.03pm AEST07:03 It appears that police are still attempting to determine whether any explosive devices are inside the car of the two gunmen. Journalists and members of the public have been evacuated from the area, so information from the scene remains scant. Updated at 8.19pm AEST 3.45pm AEST06:45 Here’s a short video from Reuters with an update on the current situation: 3.44pm AEST06:44 The Dallas Fort Worth scanner site aggregates information from the radio feeds of emergency services across Texas. The site has created this map with rolling updates of information. NOW #GarlandShooting Law enforcement is investigating a shooting at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland off Naaman… https://t.co/5x3xmGgLas Update #GarlandShooting Perimeter has been requested. Please avoid this area. https://t.co/5x3xmGgLas Update #GarlandShooting Businesses in the general area will be shut down. https://t.co/5x3xmGgLas Update #GarlandShooting Evacuation ordered for the Walmart near the Curtis Culwell Center. Avoid this area! https://t.co/5x3xmGgLas 3.37pm AEST06:37 My colleague Bridie Jabour has just filed this explainer on the American Freedom Defense Initiative: A co-founder of the group behind the contest to award $10,000 for the best cartoon depiction of Mohammed, is a New Yorker who runs a blog that campaigns to stop the “Islamification” of America. Pamela Geller, used her blog Atlas Shrugs to declare “this is war” in the hours after the shooting of two gunmen at the contest, which had been organised by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a group co-founded by Geller and Robert Spencer in 2010. Geller, the winner of numerous awards from far right organisations such as the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is credited with coining the term “ground zero mega mosque” as part of highly publicised campaign against the development of community centre, which included a mosque, a few blocks from where the twin towers once stood. She became politically active after the September 11 attacks and has told various newspapers she had never heard of Osama Bin Laden until the day of the attacks but started educating herself as a housewife living in Long Island raising four children. She eventually started a blog, Atlas Shrugs. A prolific poster - the blog usually has between 10 and 15 posts per day - Gellar took to it soon after two armed gunmen were shot outside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland in Garland, Texas. More details on the group in this piece will be up shortly. 3.35pm AEST06:35 Dutch politician Geert Wilders also posted this image shortly after the shooting. Picture taken just before #garlandshooting . Thank God the heroes of SWAT-team prevented the worst. pic.twitter.com/BBaQNJir9b 3.33pm AEST06:33 The contest depicting the prophet Muhammad was organised by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. Here is some prior background to the group and their activities in the US in the Washington Post: New Yorkers are used to aggressive advertising. Banners for breast implants. Billboards for condoms. But a federal judge’s ruling has opened the door for far more controversial posters on buses and subways across the city. “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah,” reads one such ad next to the image of a young man in a checkered headscarf. “That’s His Jihad. What’s yours?” The poster is at the center of heated legal debate over public safety and free speech. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl ruled that New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) cannot stop the controversial ad from running on scores of subway cars and buses. The MTA has argued that the ad could incite violence against Jews, but Koeltl rejected that idea. MTA officials “underestimate the tolerant quality of New Yorkers and overestimate the potential impact of these fleeting advertisements,” he ruled. “Moreover, there is no evidence that seeing one of these advertisements on the back of a bus would be sufficient to trigger a violent reaction. Therefore, these ads — offensive as they may be — are still entitled to First Amendment protection.” 3.25pm AEST06:25 Dutch politician Geert Wilders was also attending the event in Garland. He also posted this update on twitter shortly after the shooting: Shots fired at Garland Mohammed cartoon free speech event. I just left the building after speeching. #garlandshooting 3.22pm AEST06:22 At the moment the bomb squad is now assessing the car driven by the two gunmen. There are reports from reporters at the scene of explosions that have been heard coming from the location. BREAKING: Explosion heard as bomb teams worked around the vehicle police say was driven by two gunmen @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/HN4zTb9zMR Police can't tell us about what happened yet but we heard an explosion. Can't see much activity from our vantage point n parking lot @NBCDFW 3.20pm AEST06:20 Nor do we know identity of the shooters or the motivation for the attack. However, the shooting occurred outside a centre where the American Freedom Defense Initiative was hosting an exhibition and contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. One of the organisers of the event, Pamela Geller, has directly linked the shooting to the event, and said it was an attack on free speech: This is a war. This is war on free speech. What are we going to do? Are we going to surrender to these monsters? Two men with rifles and backpacks attacked police outside our event. A cop was shot; his injuries are not life-threatening, thank Gd. Please keep him in your prayers. The bomb squad has been called to the event site to investigate a backpack left at the event site. Updated at 3.34pm AEST 3.15pm AEST06:15 At this point in time we still don’t have a full account of the circumstances of the shootings. A number of Texas officials have now provided some updates on the event. This account from Douglas Athas, the mayor of Garland, is the most detailed account we have at the moment: Two men in a car tried to drive into the parking lot, jumped out with automatic rifles. Started firing at an unarmed schools security officer who was hit in the leg. He was transported to the hospital. The first suspect was shot immediately. The second was shot and wounded, reached for his backback and, of course, officers not knowing any idea what was in the back pack, shot him again and he was killed. 3.10pm AEST06:10 Garland Police are also warning people to avoid the Culwell Event Centre and surrounding area. Garland Police are asking people to avoid the area of the Culwell Event Center in North Garland. 3.08pm AEST06:08 Texas working to determine "cause and scope" of attack, says governor The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott has released this statement on the shooting: Texas officials are actively investigating to determine the cause and scope of the senseless attack in Garland, Texas. This is a crime that was quickly ended thanks to the swift action by Garland law enforcement. Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those affected tonight. 3.06pm AEST06:06 Here’s a statement on the shooting released on the Garland Independent School District website: Earlier this evening, during an event at the Curtis Culwell Center, two men exited a vehicle and began shooting at Garland ISD Security Officer Bruce Joiner. Garland Police, who were on scene, returned fire at the two men, killing both. Officer Joiner was shot in the ankle. He was transported to a local hospital, treated and released. Our thoughts are with him and his family. Garland Police have secured the area around the Cuwlell Center and Naaman Forest High School. The district is working with Garland PD and will keep you informed as information becomes available. 3.01pm AEST06:01 Summary On Sunday evening in Texas two male gunmen were shot dead outside an exhibition at the Curtis Culwell Centre in Dallas, Texas. We’ll be delivering rolling updates of events as they unfold throughout the night in the US. Here’s a summary of events so far: |