Man allegedly helped plan Texas cartoon contest shooting, wanted to attack Super Bowl

Posted 2015-06-17 12:24 by Grunt Report with 0 comments

Authorities said Tuesday that a Phoenix man who helped orchestrate a shootout at last month’s “Draw Muhammad” event in Texas also had aspirations to join ISIS and attack the Super Bowl.

Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, 43, was arrested last week on charges related to the May 3 attack in Garland, Texas that led to the deaths of two roommates from Phoenix. An indictment filed in federal court in Phoenix says Kareem hosted the gunmen in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used when they attacked security guards outside the event.

At Tuesday’s hearing, FBI special agent Dina McCarthy described how a witness and a confidential informant learned about Kareem’s intentions to join ISIS, including watching the group’s propaganda videos with the Texas shooters Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi.

McCarthy said a 2012 investigation into Kareem determined he had a terrorism training document on his computer. She alleged he wanted to attack the Super Bowl when it was in Arizona this year, but didn’t provide the specifics about how serious he was.

The magistrate denied bail for Kareem, who is charged with conspiracy, making false statements and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a felony.

“This is an individual who is apt to incite violence,” prosecutor Kristen Brook said. “This defendant, based on all these facts, is dangerous, he is off-the-charts dangerous.”

Defense lawyer Daniel Maynard called it a trumped-up case based largely on an unreliable confidential informant charged with kidnapping and sex trafficking.

“This is your typical jailhouse snitch,” Maynard said, adding there’s no proof Abdul Kareem purchased any of the guns used in the Texas shooting.

Roommates Soofi and Simpson drove to Texas to attack the event, which featured cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims. They were killed by police after they drove up and opened fire outside the contest at a conference center, injuring a security guard. No one attending the event was hurt.

Kareem had practiced shooting with the two men in the remote desert outside Phoenix between January and May, the indictment said. Court records show Kareem had a criminal record, struggled with substance abuse and had difficulty finding a steady job.

He has two aggravated drunken driving convictions in Arizona, including a 1998 case where he was found passed out with a beer bottle between his legs behind the wheel of a vehicle that was still running. He was also charged in 1997 with aggravated assault after a woman told police that Kareem had pointed a gun in her direction. Kareem maintained that he didn’t point the weapon at anyone and instead had taken the gun away from his brother during an argument.

After a second DUI arrest, probation officials say Kareem was generally cooperative but had continued to drive while drunk and struggle with substance abuse. He was sentenced to four months in jail.

He was born and raised in Philadelphia as Decarus Lowell Thomas and changed his name to Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem in 2013.

Usama Shami, president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, said Kareem attended the mosque for at least four years and at times volunteered to help clean the carpets. He said on at least one occasion, Simpson helped him clean the carpets.

Shami said he has not seen Kareem at the mosque in the last six to eight months, and he first learned about Kareem’s possible involvement in the plot when FBI agents showed him 15 to 20 photos of different people.

“They had a lot of photos. They asked not only me, but other people if they have seen him,” Shami said. “The FBI is going to do their jobs and they are going to follow their leads and whatever they find we are going to cooperate with them.”

The FBI arrested Kareem on June 11.

Hours before the shooting, the bureau warned local authorities that Simpson, who had a prior terrorism-related conviction, might go to the event, but police said they didn’t see the bulletin in time.

Neither the FBI nor Garland police said they anticipated that either suspect would target the contest, whose depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are considered blasphemous by Muslims. Such drawings have sparked violence around the world.

The FBI has said Simpson and Soofi were armed with three pistols, three assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.