FBI director James Comey revealed on Thursday that the agency had information that Elton Simpson was interested in heading to Garland, Texas, before he and his companion, Nadir Soofi, opened fire at a Mohammed cartoon contest on Sunday. Comey told reporters that the FBI had alerted the police in Garland, Texas, shortly before the event.
Comey said Simpson had been investigated by the FBI from 2006 to 2014 and that the investigation was reopened in March when Simpson began posting pro-ISIS messages on Twitter.
“We developed information just hours before the event that Simpson might be interested in going to Garland,” Comey said.
Officers on the ground never saw the warnings, however, and no attempt was made to warn the organizers or their security team of the threat.
A Garland police spokesman told the New York Times that “we on the ground had no idea, no information that these guys had left Phoenix and were on their way to Garland.”
Shepard Smith reported on Thursday:
The FBI knew one of the gunmen in Sunday’s attack in Texas could be targeting the controversial Mohammad cartoon contest, anti-Islam conference… And they knew it hours before the attack occurred. That comes straight from the FBI director who just moments ago held a closed door meeting with reporters. The FBI put out a bulletin with suspect’s picture before the attack. He said it’s not clear if police in Garland, Texas knew about that bulletin.
He also talked about the potential for other would-be killers still out there. And that’s the key – he talked about the possibility that they may have missed others. That others may be out there.
Video via Gateway Pundit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq8gA9LNFgk
Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit reached out to Pamela Geller to ask if she or her security detail had been notified by the FBI or local officials that a terrorist was heading her way. She said that they had not.
The FBI and DHS have also not been in contact with Geller about the threats on her life that were issued by ISIS in the wake of the Garland attack.
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