Worse against the defenders of the cross, the United States and telling at the end the future is just around the corner. That may well be isis bid suggests future such attacks can now follow. As i say, there was a tweet just ahead of the attack suggesting these gunmen were loyal to isis. But now we have isis trying to latch themselves onto that. At this stage though investigators frantically combing through evidence to workout if there was a chain of command or isis simply trying to get credibility, use out of this attempt of chilling attack for using social media around this statement. Back to you. Nick thank you very much. Question now is could this have been stopped before it happened . We now know one of the gunmen was known to the fbi for years. Isis saying theyre behind the attack. Did anyone know or suspect these men had anything to do with the group . Cnns kyung lah live. Reporter investigators here are this morning poring through the evidence they have collected and seized fro
at all, the connection between these men and isis. the fbi filled a van with evidence from the gunmen s phoenix apartment. investigators scrubbing all items hoping to piece together a timeline of this plot. neighbors in their apartment complex saw nothing outwardly alarming from the two roommates except one of the men, elton simpson, put his car up for sale. i m getting goose bumps thinking about it right now. reporter: arial whitlock exchanged texts with simpsons. you don t think he s going to plot something and you re giving him money to plot something. reporter: but he changed his mind instead driving it to texas. shortly before opening fire simpson tweeted an oath of alee allegiance to a pseudonym. talking to an fbi informant over years court records show simpson wanted to go to somalia to fight, recorded on wiretap
but it s how he s using it. i guess you just have to ask yourself what is it you want to promote. do you believe that america s future when it comes to collaboration of cultures is to pick on one and paint one in the extreme and at its ugliest? or do you want to try to cultivate the moderates within islam and show them that they re welcome in this country. i mean that s really the debate. we ll continue having it congressman. i appreciate you coming on new day as always with your perspective. we ll see you again soon. thank you, chris. you got to know your enemy. all right. thank you very much. all right. i ll take a look at some other headlines for you. a u.s. college student is being detained in north korea, but he tells cnn exclusively he illegally entered the country deliberately. so why risk a lengthy punishment? cnn s will ripley had an exclusive interview with the young man. hi will. reporter: michaela he wanted to accomplish something great by deciding to leave the
saying if you get shot or you get killed it s heaven straight away. heaven that s what we here for so why not take that route? nadir soofi was the other gunman a pizza shop owner and young father. a pakistani source tells cnn when his parents divorced hi moved to pakistan with his father where he attended a prestigious private school in islamabad. their plan so secret that moss president spent years with both men at services and never saw either as a threat. when that happens it just shocks you. no matter how good you know these people that s a question people ask themselves. reporter: a question elton simpson s family is also asking. in a statement released monday night they write, just like everyone in our beautiful country we are struggling to understand how this could happen. and you can hear the confusion in that statement. the parents simply not
between the north and south. what kind of great event did you think would happen? i m not completely sure yet. reporter: this is the first time he s been able to send any message to his family and friends since he was detained. south korea s government is demanding the immediate release of the college student. and that of two other detained south koreans who gave exclusive interviews to cnn. they re being held by the north koreans on espionage charges, allegations south korea calls baseless. joo remains under investigation, but he s hopeful his arrest will bring about some good. i hope that, you know i will be able to tell the world how an ordinary college student entered the dprk illegally, but however with the generous treatment of the dprk that i will be able to return home safely. reporter: joo says he is being treated humanely. he has his own room a private bathroom but no telephone. so that was his first opportunity to send a message not only to his family but perhaps m