Retired FBI Agent Says Home-Grown Terrorists A Real Threat
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GARLAND(CBSDFW.COM) - A former North Texas FBI special agent says whether Sunday's attack by alleged Muslim extremists on Garland's Curtis Culwell Center was orchestrated by ISIS or not, their message of terror is certainly being heard close to home.
ISIS moved quickly to claim responsibility for the failed attack, but Gil Torrez, a former FBI counter-terrorism agent called the two American-born suspects ,"wanna-be terrorists."
"If their goal was to die for Jihad, then they did it," says Torrez. "But, if their goal was to create a lot more havoc, take a lot of lives, then they failed at it. And had they been trained or prepared, the outcome could have been very different."
Torrez says the attack should be a warning to Americans. He believes the threat of home-grown radicals is real.
As ISIS moved to turn the attack into propaganda, Joseph Offutt grabbed an American flag and headed to the Culwell Center to send a message of his own to ISIS.
"If ISIS wants to take responsibility and say it was them, for propaganda, I'm not saying, come fight us. I'm saying, we're not afraid. We're America," says Offutt.
Retired FBI agent Torrez warns we're living in precarious times.
"It doesn't take much to incite people. "You can lean and hide and drape the First Amendment over your shoulder; but, if you use it irresponsibly, you may get more than you bargained for,"
says Torrez.
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