**Who remembers the terrorist attack on an exhibit featuring cartoon images of Muhammad at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on May 3, 2015 ** Pamela Geller and Geert Wilders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Culwell_Center_attack

The Curtis Culwell Center attack was a failed terrorist attack on an exhibit featuring cartoon images of Muhammad at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on May 3, 2015, which ended in a shootout with police guarding the event, and the deaths of the two perpetrators.[4] The attackers shot an unarmed Garland Independent School District (GISD) security officer in the ankle.[5][6] Shortly after opening fire, both attackers were shot by an off-duty Garland police officer and killed by SWAT.[7]

The FBI had been monitoring the two attackers for years, and an undercover agent was right behind them when the first shots were fired.[8] The injured security guard filed a lawsuit against the FBI in October 2017, claiming the FBI was partially responsible for his injuries.[6][9]

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack plot, the first time the militant group took credit for an attack in the United States.[10][11][12][13] ISIL's claim of responsibility was not verified, and U.S. officials stated that the attack appears to have been inspired, but not directed, by ISIL.

An online ISIL persona run by internet troll Joshua Ryne Goldberg had posted maps to the exhibition, and urged his followers to attack the event. Goldberg pleaded guilty to federal charges in December 2017. His persona was retweeted by one of the attackers on the morning of the attack, and Goldberg claimed responsibility for inciting the attack to multiple news outlets and in his plea agreement.[14][15][16][17][18]

Background Muhammad exhibit and contest The event, which featured images of Muhammad, was advertised as the "First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest", presented by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), or Stop Islamization of America. It was organized by the AFDI together with the David Horowitz Freedom Center's Jihad Watch, run by Robert Spencer.[19] A $10,000 award was offered for the winning cartoon, which was selected from among 350 submissions. The prize was awarded to Bosch Fawstin, a former Muslim and a critic of Islam who submitted six drawings, with the text "You can't draw me!"/"That's why I draw you."[20][21] He was to collect an award of $12,500.[22] Though images of Muhammad are not explicitly banned by the Quran, prominent Islamic views oppose human images, especially those of prophets. Such views have gained ground among certain militant Islamic groups.[23][24][25]

The event featured speeches by Pamela Geller, president of the AFDI, and Dutch politician Geert Wilders, party leader of the Party for Freedom and outspoken critic of Islam. Congressmen Keith Ellison and André Carson[26][27] had tried unsuccessfully to block Wilders from entering the United States.[28] At the time of the attack, the "First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest" exhibit was attended by approximately 150 people,[1] although the number was initially estimated at 200.[29]

The organizers of the event had paid over $10,000 to a total of forty off-duty police officers and private security guards.[5] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a SWAT team, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) were also brought in for the occasion of any possible incidents.[1][30] At the time, there was reportedly "no immediate credible threat" of an attack.[29]

Prior to the attack, ISIL had urged followers and sympathizers who were unable to join the fighting in the Syrian Civil War to carry out jihad in their home countries.[10][31] Approximately three hours prior to the start of the contest, the FBI had alerted the Garland Police Department that a suspected extremist, identified as gunman Elton Simpson, was "interested in the event" and could show up there. However, FBI officials later clarified they had no reason to believe an actual attack would occur at the contest.[32][33][34] Officers later stated that they were not aware of the alert.[1][35]

Location The "First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest" event was hosted at the Curtis Culwell Center, rented from the Garland Independent School District. The center previously hosted a fundraiser in January called "Stand With the Prophet in Honor and Respect", which was organized to combat negative stereotypes of Islam.[36] Geller had spearheaded about 1,000 picketers at that event.[37][38]

Before the start of the "First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest", concerns were expressed by Garland citizens about the center hosting the event due to potential backlash and retaliation, a sentiment that had also been voiced prior to the "Stand With the Prophet in Honor and Respect" event. However, officials allowed both events to proceed as planned, since the school district was bound by a nondiscriminatory leasing policy. Garland ISD board president Rick Lambert said in January, "The Culwell Center is available for rental as long as you comply with the law. Because it is a public facility, the district is not allowed to discriminate based upon viewpoint."[38][39]

Attack Minutes prior to the attack, a man, identified by police as one of the gunmen, posted a tweet with the hashtag #texasattack: "May Allah accept us as mujahideen." In his tweet, he said he and an accomplice had pledged allegiance to "Amirul Mu'mineen", which Paul Cruickshank of CNN said probably referred to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The user also asked his readers to follow Junaid Hussain on Twitter. After the shooting occurred, Hussain tweeted: "Allahu Akbar!!!! 2 of our brothers just opened fire".[40]

Just before the event was set to end at around 7:00 p.m.,[29] two men wearing body armor and equipped with three rifles, three handguns, and 1,500 rounds of ammunition[1][41] drove up to a police car that was parked next to a barricade erected in front of the center. Seated inside the police car were Officer Gregory Stevens of the Garland Police Department and an unarmed Garland ISD security guard.[42] The two gunmen got out of their vehicle and fired dozens of rounds at the police car, shooting the Garland ISD security guard. The men were then shot and wounded by Stevens, and eventually killed by SWAT officers.[43][44] The Garland ISD officer, identified as 58-year-old Bruce Joiner, was shot in the ankle.[5][45] He was treated at a local hospital and confirmed to be released at 9:00 p.m.[46][47]

Authorities were worried that the suspects' car could contain an incendiary device; as a precaution, several nearby businesses were evacuated. Bomb units from the Garland Police Department, the FBI, the Plano Police Department, and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport were called to the scene. Police cordoned off a large area and at least three helicopters circled overhead.[1][48] An officer in SWAT gear took the stage toward the end of the event and told attendees that a shooting had occurred, stating that one officer and two suspects had been shot.[49] It was later confirmed that there were no explosives inside the vehicle.[50] After the attack, Phoenix police began searching the two assailants' apartment.[50]

Perpetrators Elton Simpson (c. 1985 – May 3, 2015) and Nadir Hamid Soofi (c. 1981 – May 3, 2015), roommates living in an apartment in Phoenix, Arizona, were the assailants in the attack. Simpson was convicted of making a false statement about terrorism in 2011, and followed hacker and pro-ISIL propagandist Junaid Hussain on Twitter.[40][51] Simpson was an employee at a dentist's office, while Soofi was running a carpet cleaning business.[52] A third man, Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem (born c. 1972), was responsible for housing Simpson and Soofi at his home, as well as supplying them with the firearms and ammunition used in the attack. According to an indictment, around June 2014, the three began conspiring to support ISIL and considered targeting a number of locations for terrorist attacks.[53][54][55]