A report showed earlier concerns about a lone wolf attack in Florida
Four days before the Orlando shooting, News 3LV reported that there were concerns about a possible lone wolf attack in Florida.
According to News 3LV, ISIS sent a “kill list” with the names of over 8,000 people over the encrypted app Telegram to its followers.
Most of the targets on the list were Americans, with greater than 600 of the targets living in the state of Florida.
News 3LV said that the on-line news site Vocativ was the first to report about ISIS’ “kill list.” Former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan told News 3 LV that the biggest problem investigators face is trying to protect those on the list because the people who are named are “every day” people who don’t have the access to the security that someone with more means will have.
Kaplan said to News 3LV, “If in fact a sympathizer gets a hold of this list and is readily able to identify you as being his neighbor and, then, decides (because they’re a sympathizer) to go out and do something horrific to you, there is no way to calculate the potential or to prevent that.”
Omar Mateen was a lone wolf terrorist who killed 49 people and injured 53 others during the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, at the LGBT nightclub, Pulse.
During the shooting rampage, Mateen reportedly pledged his support to ISIS’ leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi.
Mateen was killed during a shootout with the Orlando police. It must be noted that although Mateen was a lone wolf terrorist, News 3LV never referenced any reports showing that Mateen was one of the people who had access to the “kill list.” And although there is no evidence showing that Mateen had any knowledge about ISIS’ “kill list,” the FBI did have knowledge about Mateen’s pro terrorist views.
The FBI interviewed Mateen in 2013 and 2014. However, the FBI decided to close both investigations after the investigators were not able to get enough evidence to officially charge Mateen with a crime.
The Orlando nightclub attack was the worst mass shooting in the United States’ history. The attack occurred almost three months after the bombing at the Belgium airport which left more than thirty people dead and several hundred wounded.
The attack at Pulse nightclub also comes less than a year after the Paris attacks at a café and theatre which left scores of people dead and wounded.
The Paris attacker, Salah Abdeslam, has been linked to the four men involved in the Belgium attacks. Abdeslam and the four Belgium attackers lived in the Brussels neighborhood of Moleenbek. Moleenbek is a hotbed for radical Islamic terrorist. ISIS is using the community as a launching pad for attacks throughout Europe.
The terrorist’s group main source of recruitment is social media. It is how Abdeslam, the four Belgium attackers, and the Orlando shooter communicated with those within ISIS’ network.
A major concern is that the U.S. and its European allies have not taken the threat of ISIS seriously. After the Belgium attacks, Rahmini Callimachi of the New York Times wrote that European leaders’ failure to take ISIS seriously and to identify past attacks as acts of terrorism and not “isolated incidents” is what led to ISIS growing stronger in Europe.
Like his European counterparts, President Obama has come under fire for his approach to dealing with ISIS. Two years ago during an interview with David Remnick of the New Yorker, President Obama called ISIS the “JV” squad of terrorism. His calling ISIS the “JV” squad of terrorism and his refusal to call the terrorist group a radical Islamic terrorist organization has led to some in the intelligence community distancing themselves from the president’s strategy on dealing with ISIS.
Last week, former NSA Director Michael Hayden told Fox News that President Obama’s attitude towards the group has not been helpful in the fight against ISIS. Also, at least 50 State Department officials signed a letter dissenting from President Obama’s strategy on Syria and his fight against ISIS in the country.
According to News 3LV, ISIS sent a “kill list” with the names of over 8,000 people over the encrypted app Telegram to its followers.
Most of the targets on the list were Americans, with greater than 600 of the targets living in the state of Florida.
News 3LV said that the on-line news site Vocativ was the first to report about ISIS’ “kill list.” Former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan told News 3 LV that the biggest problem investigators face is trying to protect those on the list because the people who are named are “every day” people who don’t have the access to the security that someone with more means will have.
Kaplan said to News 3LV, “If in fact a sympathizer gets a hold of this list and is readily able to identify you as being his neighbor and, then, decides (because they’re a sympathizer) to go out and do something horrific to you, there is no way to calculate the potential or to prevent that.”
Omar Mateen was a lone wolf terrorist who killed 49 people and injured 53 others during the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, at the LGBT nightclub, Pulse.
During the shooting rampage, Mateen reportedly pledged his support to ISIS’ leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi.
Mateen was killed during a shootout with the Orlando police. It must be noted that although Mateen was a lone wolf terrorist, News 3LV never referenced any reports showing that Mateen was one of the people who had access to the “kill list.” And although there is no evidence showing that Mateen had any knowledge about ISIS’ “kill list,” the FBI did have knowledge about Mateen’s pro terrorist views.
The FBI interviewed Mateen in 2013 and 2014. However, the FBI decided to close both investigations after the investigators were not able to get enough evidence to officially charge Mateen with a crime.
The Orlando nightclub attack was the worst mass shooting in the United States’ history. The attack occurred almost three months after the bombing at the Belgium airport which left more than thirty people dead and several hundred wounded.
The attack at Pulse nightclub also comes less than a year after the Paris attacks at a café and theatre which left scores of people dead and wounded.
The Paris attacker, Salah Abdeslam, has been linked to the four men involved in the Belgium attacks. Abdeslam and the four Belgium attackers lived in the Brussels neighborhood of Moleenbek. Moleenbek is a hotbed for radical Islamic terrorist. ISIS is using the community as a launching pad for attacks throughout Europe.
The terrorist’s group main source of recruitment is social media. It is how Abdeslam, the four Belgium attackers, and the Orlando shooter communicated with those within ISIS’ network.
A major concern is that the U.S. and its European allies have not taken the threat of ISIS seriously. After the Belgium attacks, Rahmini Callimachi of the New York Times wrote that European leaders’ failure to take ISIS seriously and to identify past attacks as acts of terrorism and not “isolated incidents” is what led to ISIS growing stronger in Europe.
Like his European counterparts, President Obama has come under fire for his approach to dealing with ISIS. Two years ago during an interview with David Remnick of the New Yorker, President Obama called ISIS the “JV” squad of terrorism. His calling ISIS the “JV” squad of terrorism and his refusal to call the terrorist group a radical Islamic terrorist organization has led to some in the intelligence community distancing themselves from the president’s strategy on dealing with ISIS.
Last week, former NSA Director Michael Hayden told Fox News that President Obama’s attitude towards the group has not been helpful in the fight against ISIS. Also, at least 50 State Department officials signed a letter dissenting from President Obama’s strategy on Syria and his fight against ISIS in the country.
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