Shooting Victims Welcome Call For Federal Probe Into Possible Domestic Terrorism
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DALLAS (CBS 11) — Victims in a Christmas Eve shooting spree are speaking out about the call for a federal investigation into what some are calling domestic terrorism.
Anthony Torres is charged with murder after police say he targeted Muslims when he opened fire at a Dallas tire shop, killing one man and wounding four others.
Employees at Omar's Wheels & Tires ran for their lives when a gunman started shooting at people in front of the shop. Police identified the shooter as 30-year-old Torres, a man employees say had been to the shop before.
"He came, and he was just talking down on, like, being racist on Muslims and just saying that Arabic people were this and that," Bryan Vazquez said.
Vazquez was one of five people shot on Christmas Eve. He says just before the gunman opened fire, he was asking questions.
"He was just walking around asking all the customers, 'Are you Muslim?' And the customer was like, 'No I'm Mexican,' like, 'Why you asking?' He'd just walk away from him," Vazquez said.
Police have now classified the shooting as a bias crime, but the Council on American-Islamic Relations hopes federal authorities will take it a step further and investigate the possibility of domestic terrorism. It's something shooting victim Hani Evan welcomes.
"Maybe some people are behind him and will do something stupid like that, yeah maybe somebody pushing him to do stuff like that," Evan said.
"Somebody has to have some kind of connection to his thoughts. How he feels and how he reacted towards his beliefs. You know, we don't want that to happen again," Vazquez added.
Employees say they hope a federal probe can uncover whether this attack was part of something bigger. Until they know for sure the prospect of another attack is always with them.
"It's kind of scary especially when you actually feel the bullet. Every day, you know, but we got to work," Vazquez said.
The Dallas Police Department tweeted Saturday that they have been in contact with federal authorities about this case. A spokesperson for the FBI did not respond to our request for comment.
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