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FBI head says gunman in Texas displayed interest in event

Elton Simpson head shot from preseason media shoot of the 2002-03 Yavapai College basketball team in Prescott, Arizona. Simpson was one of the two gunmen who was shot and killed by authorities outside a suburban Dallas venue Sunday, which was hosting a contest for Muslim Prophet Muhammad cartoons. The gunmen, whom federal officials identified as Simpson and Nadir Soofi, wounded a security officer before they were shot and killed at the scene. (Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Elton Simpson head shot from preseason media shoot of the 2002-03 Yavapai College basketball team in Prescott, Arizona. Simpson was one of the two gunmen who was shot and killed by authorities outside a suburban Dallas venue Sunday, which was hosting a contest for Muslim Prophet Muhammad cartoons. The gunmen, whom federal officials identified as Simpson and Nadir Soofi, wounded a security officer before they were shot and killed at the scene. (Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Elton Simpson head shot from preseason media shoot of the 2002-03 Yavapai College basketball team in Prescott, Arizona. Simpson was one of the two gunmen who was shot and killed by authorities outside a suburban Dallas venue Sunday, which was hosting a contest for Muslim Prophet Muhammad cartoons. The gunmen, whom federal officials identified as Simpson and Nadir Soofi, wounded a security officer before they were shot and killed at the scene. (Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

By Associated Press 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – FBI Director James Comey (KOH’-mee) says federal investigators knew that one of the two gunmen in an attempted attack outside a provocative cartoon contest in Texas was aware of the event.

Comey told reporters Thursday that agents had developed information hours before Sunday’s event in Garland, Texas, that Elton Simpson had an interest in it.

He said that information was distributed to local authorities in Texas, but there had been no indication that Simpson was planning an attack.

Simpson, of Phoenix, had been convicted in 2011 in a terrorism-related investigation and sentenced to probation. The FBI opened a new investigation into his activities in March. Comey said that investigation was “open but far from complete” at the time of the shooting.