Homeland Security Chief Says He's Clueless Why Garland, Texas Shooters Wanted to Kill Cartoonists

Garland Texas gunmen were trying to enforce Sharia Law, an element of Islam. But the Secretary of Homeland Security is not sure what their motive was? Ahem! Hello! Anybody home?

[From article]
One suspect, identified as Elton Simpson by a federal law enforcement source, linked himself to ISIS in a tweet posted just before the attack.
He also was no stranger to federal investigators. In 2011, he was convicted of making a false statement involving international and domestic terrorism.
The other suspect, identified as Nadir Soofi by two federal law enforcement officials, was Simpson's roommate in a Phoenix apartment.
He wasn't well-known to federal law enforcement and was not on the FBI's radar, one of the officials said. Investigators were combing through evidence retrieved from the shooters' Arizona home to help piece together a timeline of how their plot came together, the official said.
[. . .]
Authorities are still trying to determine the suspects' motives, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said Monday.
[Huh?]
[. . .]
After the shooting, an ISIS propagandist that Simpson had earlier asked his readers to follow tweeted, "Allahu Akbar!!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire" at the Texas event.
"If there is no check on the freedom of your speech, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions," tweeted the propagandist, who was identified by two American groups that monitor jihadi websites as Junaid Hussain, a British ISIS fighter in Syria who goes by the name Abu Hussein al Britani.
In 2011, Simpson was sentenced to three years of probation after his conviction on the terror-related charge, court records show. Prosecutors said he told FBI agents that he had not discussed traveling to Somalia to engage in "violent jihad" when, in fact, he had, according to an indictment reviewed by CNN.
[. . .]
"The Islamic jihadis are determined to suppress our freedom of speech violently." Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, told CNN. "They struck in Paris and Copenhagen recently, and now in Texas."
Responding Monday to criticisms of her group as anti-Islamic, she said, "There is a problem in Islam, as illustrated last night, and anyone that addresses it gets attacked in this same way."
[. . .]
Simpson was a regular worshiper at the mosque until around 2010 or 2011, about the time the FBI arrested him on the false statement charges.
During that time, he offered no signal that he held radical views, Shami said.
"He was a gentle person," Shami said of Simpson. "He always had a good attitude, a good demeanor."
Soofi came to the mosque less frequently, Shami said. He owned a local pizza shop and would show up at the mosque with his young son.
"They didn't show any signs of radicalization or any signs of even thinking about those things in that manner. So when that happens it just shocks you," Shami said. "How good did you know these people, that's the question that people ask themselves."
In the 1990s, Soofi spent a few years in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he lived with his father and stepmother and attended a prestigious private school, a source with knowledge of the family said.
[. . .]
"The day we give away humor and freedom of speech is the day that we cease to exist as a free and independent people," he told the attendees at the Garland event Sunday night.
[. . .]
"The freedom of speech is under violent assault here in our nation," she said. "The question now before us: Will we stand and defend it or bow to violence, thuggery and savagery?"

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

Garland, Texas, shooting suspect linked himself to ISIS in tweets
By Catherine Shoichet and Michael Pearson

CNN
Updated 10:55 PM ET, Mon May 4, 2015

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Elton Simpson: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Published 8:17 am EDT, May 4, 2015 Updated 6:50 pm EDT, May 4, 2015 

 By Tom Cleary