The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on an event in Texas last Sunday that was dedicated to drawing the Prophet Muhammad. The Islamic State has publicly instructed followers to support its radical mission by attacking targets in the West. While it is certainly possible to interact with members or fighters in the Islamic State through platforms like Twitter or ask.fm, it is unknown if the men received specific instructions or had direct communication with anyone fighting with the group in Iraq or Syria.
“In a broadcast on its official radio channel Tuesday, the group said two Al Khilafa soldiers opened fire outside the event in Garland, a Dallas suburb,” CNN reported Tuesday morning. Al Khilafa in English translates to “The Caliphate.”
Media reported that the shooting, which hit a security guard in the ankle before both shooters were killed, was the first attack by the Islamic State in the United States. Certain details are still rather murky. Were the attackers coordinating their actions with the Islamic State or simply inspired by their radically violent ideology?
Radical groups often take to various platforms — including radio and Twitter — to take credit for various attacks. In this case, the Islamic State took credit for the attack but a range of people following the story seem to think it was more a case of two individuals acting on their own initiative.
“I think it’s the other way around — they were kind of applying for membership into ISIS,” Tim Clemente, a former FBI agent, told CNN. “And so they were doing this act, sent out the tweet in advance because if they know there’s a possibility they’re not going to make it out of this, then they can’t give recognition to what they were trying to do after the fact.”
Garland Mayor Douglas Athas told Fox News on Tuesday morning that there was no evidence linking the Islamic State to the attacks in his town. “I think it would be very easy for them to take claim and still have nothing to do with it,” Athas said. “Certainly, I don’t know of any evidence that linked them to actually having had a part in this.”
The two men were later revealed to be Elton Simpson, 30, and his roommate Nadir Soofi of Phoenix, Arizona.
“Islamic State has since taken credit for the amateur attack, but it is unclear what relationship — if any — the two gunmen had with the group,” the Guardian reported Tuesday.
CNN reported that “there are clues that one of the gunmen was an ISIS sympathizer,” but little evidence beyond that indicates that the two men had any solid connection to the group.
While little is known of Soofi, his roommate had at least one previous run in with a federal agency. Foreign Policy reports:
In 2011, Simpson was convicted of lying to federal investigators about plans to travel to Somalia and join a terror group there. While a judge sentenced him to probation for his statements to the FBI, he ruled that the government had not provided sufficient evidence to prove that Simpson had intended to participate in acts of terrorism. At this stage, less is known about the identity of Soofi, who reportedly lived together with Simpson in Phoenix, Arizona.
Whether or not the Islamic State was originally aware of Simpson and Soofi’s plans, such an attack will do well to push their message. Professor Juan Cole wrote after the brutal Charlie Hebdo murders in January that extremist groups — like the Islamic State and al Qaeda — aim to get non-Muslims to turn on Muslims. A large part of these groups message comes from the notion that the Western world will not accept Islam or Muslim values. Pushing Muslims’ backs to the wall “can start creating a common political identity around grievance against discrimination,” Cole wrote.
On Sunday, the Islamic State’s message that the ‘West doesn’t accept Islam’ was also mimicked by Pamela Geller’s American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) at an event where the specific purpose was an act that many Muslims find offensive. North Texas has a Muslim population of around 150,000 that frequent about 30 mosques but the community was urged by leaders not to react to what they saw as an act of provocation.
While the actions of groups like AFDI — designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — are by no means comparable in their brutality or penchant for violence to those of the Islamic State, it seemed Sunday’s event also reinforced Geller’s preconceived ideas about Islam.
Geller is a New York native and the “anti-Muslim movement’s most visible and flamboyant figurehead.”
As the Washington Post reported: “In tweets immediately after the shooting, Geller appeared almost gleeful that she had been right.”