One of the Garland Gunmen Identified as Terror-Related Convict
This morning, the FBI identified the man they believe to be one of the gunmen behind yesterday’s shooting at a “Draw Muhammad” contest in Garland, TX: 30-year-old Elton Simpson, who was once convicted of lying to officials about his plans to join a terrorist group in Africa.
ABC broke the news that the FBI executed a search warrant this morning on his apartment in Phoenix, AZ, and bomb-detecting robot is somehow involved. Authorities believe that Simpson shared the apartment with the second gunman, who has not yet been identified. Officials also say that Simpson also tweeted multiple statements about the shooting in the hours leading up to the assault, tagging his last tweet with #TexasAttack and pledging his life to Amir al-Mu’minin, an alias of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. (The account has since been deleted.)
Simpson had been under surveillance by the FBI ever since he was convicted of a terror-related charge back in 2010, when he lied to investigators about attempting to travel to travel to Somalia and join Al-Shabaab, a militant group currently terrorizing Kenya. However, the government failed to convict him of actually planning to join a terrorist group, and he was sentenced to three years’ probation for making comments about his plans.
His lawyer from the case, Kristina Sitton, told ABC News that she “never struck me as someone who would do this sort of thing.”
“I’m not a bleeding heart, I’m a Republican,” she added. “I’ve seen some pretty bad guys and he seemed pretty normal.”
One security guard was wounded in the attack, though his wounds are reportedly non-life threatening. Both gunmen died during a shootout.
Watch the report below via ABC:
ABC Breaking US News | ABC Politics News
[Image via screenshot]
—
