PHOENIX – A man has been charged with helping plan an attack on a provocative Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas that ended with two men being killed in a shootout with police.
An indictment filed in federal court in Phoenix last week alleges that 43-year-old Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem hosted the gunmen in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used in the May 3 shooting in Garland, Texas. The indictment also says others were involved, but no other arrests or indictments have been made.
Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson were roommates in Phoenix and drove to Texas to attack the event featuring cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims. They were killed by police after they drove up and opened fire outside the contest at a conference centre, injuring a security guard. No one attending the event in suburban Dallas was hurt.
Kareem practiced shooting with Simpson, Soofi and others in the remote desert outside Phoenix between January and May, the indictment said. He hosted the gunmen and others in his home to discuss the contest and the shooters’ plans to travel to Texas to attack the event, according to the indictment.
His attorney, Daniel Maynard, didn’t immediately respond to phone or email messages early Tuesday.
Kareem is charged with conspiracy, making false statements and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a felony. He is also known as Decarus Thomas. He has lived in multiple locations in Phoenix and suburban Glendale during the last several years, records show.
Kareem attended the same Phoenix mosque where Soofi and Simpson occasionally prayed.
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 clean the carpets. On at least one occasion, Simpson helped him with the carpets, he said.
Shami said he has not seen Kareem at the mosque in the last six to eight months and first learned about Kareem’s possible involvement in the plot when FBI agents showed him 15 to 20 photos of different people, he said.
The FBI arrested Kareem on June 11, and he is set for a court appearance Tuesday in Phoenix. The FBI did not immediately return phone calls.
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.
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