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FBI warned local police before Texas attack: FBI director

08 May 2015 04:19 (UTC +04:00)

The gunmen, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, opened fire outside a building where an anti-Islamic group, American Freedom Defense Initiative, was staging the provocative contest that would award $10,000 for the top depiction of the Prophet (PBUH).

Comey said on Thursday that the FBI had sent a bulletin to the local police department saying that Simpson had an interest in the event, but the agency did not indicate that he planned an attack.

"We developed information before the event [that] Simpson might go," Comey said, adding the FBI "didn't have reason to believe he would attack."

The information about Simpson was developed about three hours before the contest began which featured extremist Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who is notorious for his anti-Muslim speeches, as its key speaker.

Comey said the terrorists are using the "siren song" of Twitter and other social media, spreading a message that "if you can't travel, kill where you are."

He said there are thousands of English-speaking followers on Twitter, with hundreds and perhaps thousands in the US "consuming this poison."

The Sunday shooting began when Simpson and Nadir jumped out of a dark-colored vehicle and started firing their assault rifles at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.