It s key for the fbi and counterterrorism officials to assess if there is a chab of command between isis leadership and these two men because that s something they could interdict in the future or they could be looking at the alternative here these are lone wolves drawn to isis ideology on the internet who carried this out without instructions. nick, thank you for that, live from beirut. i want to go to phoenix where elton simpson and nadir soofi were sharing an apartment and belonged to the same mosque and friends and family are mystified by their actions. my cnn colleague is there. you heard nick paton walsh say isis is calling these guys soldierrs of the caliphate, although they don t see to know much el or anything about them. you ve been talking to people close to these men. what are you finding out? well, start with elton simpson. he s the one we know most about. we ve come across these yearbook photos. take a look at these because
Just reach the parking lot. earlier one of them tweeted both men s allegiance to the terror group s leader and prayed to be accepted as, quote, mujahedeen, holy warriors. today it is far from clear that american born elton simpson and nadir soofi were directed by isis leaders abroad or had even been in touch with them. our live coverage, this hour, stretches from beirut to phoenix to the dallas suburb of garland. coincidentally the first place of one of the attackers. i want to start overseas with nick paton walsh. it s sort of a complicated idea to hear a terror group taking responsibility for something that was so incredibly failed. these people did nothing but get themselves kwilds killed. yes, but they did in the minds of those who followed isis show the potential for the isis ideology or branding to reach
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They really show what a typical american upbringing he had. the pictures show that he s an avid athlete. he was the captain of his basketball team in high school. he grew up in a typical suburban community here in phoenix. he seemed to have a typical life in high school. investigators are now tracing his path, trying to figure out how he went from this to a life of radicalism and violence. neighbors in their apartment complex saw nothing outwardly alarming from the two roommates except one of the men elton simpson put his car up for sale. i m getting goose bumps thinking about it right now. reporter: ariel exchanged texts with simpson. you don t think like maybe he s just going to go plot something and you re giving the money to help him go plot something. reporter: he changed his mind. instead driving it to texas. shortly before opening fire simpson tweeted an oath of aleeance to a mirul mu mineen, a
It s fair to say we can be thankful the terror attack on sunday in a dallas suburb was stopped before it got started. the gunmen will never pose a threat to anyone but today there are still a lot of questions out there. were elton simpson and nadir soofi acting on any orders from isis or were they simply trying to impress isis leaders they kind of read about? joining me with insight former cia official it phil mudd and also michael weis is a fellow at the institute of modern russia and the co-author of isis inside the army of terror. so first to you, michael, if i could, why would a group of isis want to jump out in front of this and say it was us, it s our stupid bad bungled dumb cannon