event at this center designed to kill people. want to bring in paul cruickshank, cnn terror analyst in london for us and former secretary of homeland security, julia, let me start with you. there are two facets to this. number one, an attempted terror attack on u.s. soil by someone, this man, elton simpson, one of the assailants who was an isis sympathizer with connections to people online. and secondly, the people of garland seemed awfully prepared. they had the right people in the right place before this event to thwart this attack. that s absolutely right. let s start with the second point which is knowing the kind of event being planned and knowing the controversy that surrounded this group. the garland police did exactly what s been anticipated in the post-911 structure which is local, state and federal law
controversial figures together. first pamela geller the president of an organization called the american freedom defense initiative and affiliate called stop the islam mization of america, they led a charged protest against the building of a mosque near the site of the world trade center. the keynote speaker at last night s event outside of dallas was controversial, dutch politician girtheerts wilders and called for a ban on the koran, on an al qaeda hit list by the way. talk more what s going on the attack and gunmen who have been i dent fighted and tweeted about the attack. joining us is paul crook shank, in washington tom fuentes former fbi assistant director. paul this is the latest shooting related to cartoons defecting the prophet mohammed. right? well wolf that s absolutely right. we obviously had those terrible
attention that is drawn to her events or her points of view, that the more trouble it causes? i know there was a big cry for people to just ignore this event that she was having in garland, texas, and you know, terry jones, that pastor down in florida who burned the cokoran, kind of went away. he s serving fries in a restaurant in florida. this is going to draw attention to pamela geller but people need to confront them. she deserves to be designated as a member of a hate group and at the same time this violence is horrific and unacceptable. people need to understand that pamela geller is not some innocuous person. the things she is saying about muslims are cruel and unfair and really ugly propaganda. you re saying that name she gives her group, the american freedom defense initiative, isn t accurate. a lot of people would say, you
impending attacks said my bro which could be taken two ways as a friend and compatriot or actual brother. thank you. javier soto reporting live from our affiliate ktvk outsides the apartment that the two suspects shared. the american freedom defense initiative may sound innocuous but the southern poverty law center said it is a hate group. its leader is a conservative author and blogger who also heads a group called stop the islamization of america. her name is pamela geller and defended her views to cnn this morning on new day. there s a problem in islam and the problem is we can t talk about the problem. we are seeing the wholesale slaughter of christians in iraq and in syria. in nigeria in the congo, central african republic, the jihad is raging and all we can talk about is backlash phobia. it s nonsense. we have to be able to discuss
welcome back, everybody. wherever you are around the world, you re watching cnn newsroom. the headlines this hour. police in garland, texas have shot and killed two gunmen who opened fire outside an art exhibit featuring cartoons of the prophet mohammed. a bomb squad has been checking the suspect s car for possible explosives. a group called the american freedom defense initiative organized the event. a protest by israel s ethiopian jewish community turned violent sunday. they used smoke to disperse demonstrators a. video showing a uniformed israeli soldier sparked the protest. cheers in the u.s. city of baltimore, maryland after the mandatory curfew was lifted sunday and national guard is packing up chl the city has been rocked by protests and riots since freddie gray died in police custody last month.