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Phoenix Islamic Community Condemns Garland Attack

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PHOENIX, AZ (CBSDFW.COM) - Authorities in Phoenix aren't talking about the two shooting suspects - Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson – from Sunday's attack at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.

But leaders in the Muslim community there, including the Islamic Community Center, are condemning the violence in Garland.

"We're a peaceful community that's spread by the pen and our role is to respond to these type of events by educating the public about our peaceful teachings," said Atif Malik with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. "So we will continue to have events to report these through the pen and not by any other means."

The chairman at the center in Phoenix said Soofi and Simpson prayed there, but didn't attend services as often as they used to.

The mother of Soofi's son lives in Phoenix.

Simpson's family said they can't understand what led the men to go to Garland, and didn't know anything about it before hand.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

 

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