Fatal Texas Shooting Has Another Philly Connection

Police officers stands guard at a parking lot near the Curtis Culwell Center where a provocative contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad was held Sunday, May 3, 2015, in Garland, Texas. The contest was put on lockdown Sunday night and attendees were being evacuated after authorities reported a shooting outside the building.

When two gunmen were killed during an ill-fated attack on a “Draw Muhammad” context in Garland, Texas last month, we pointed out that contest was sponsored by the same organization that paid to put anti-Islam ads on SEPTA buses this spring. But that’s not the only Philly connection to the case.

Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, 43, was arrested last week on charges he hosted the gunmen at his Phoenix home and provided them with weapons for the attack. “He was born and raised in Philadelphia as Decarus Lowell Thomas and changed his name to Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem in 2013,” AP reports. (See the indictment below.)

At a hearing in federal court, FBI special agent Dina McCarthy described how a witness and a confidential informant learned about Kareem’s interest in the Islamic State, including watching the group’s videos with 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 said he wanted to attack the Super Bowl when it was in Arizona this year, but provided no specifics about how serious he was.

“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.”

Kareem was arrested June 11.