FBI Arrests Man, Says He Had Contact With 2 Texas Attackers

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CLEVELAND (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Federal authorities have arrested a North Carolina man who they say had been in contact with two men who ambushed an event in North Texas where the Muslim prophet Mohammad was being depicted in cartoons.

Thirty-five-year-old Erick Jamal Hendricks was arrested in Charlotte on a federal complaint filed in Cleveland. Authorities say he tried to recruit and train people to commit terrorist acts in the U.S. on behalf of the Islamic State group.

Two men wearing body armor and armed with assault rifles abruptly stopped their car outside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland in the spring of 2015.

An approaching security officer thought it was a prank, but quickly realized he was mistaken and ran behind a tree as shots were fired. A nearby police officer, who spotted one of the men with a rifle, unholstered his pistol and killed both men.

The shooter, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, went to the "First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest" heavily armed. After their deaths police found that the man had three automatic weapons, two pistols and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Hendricks, the man arrested in North Carolina, is now charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. He was taken into custody Thursday morning and was assigned a federal public defender who couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

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