Tennessee shootings spotlight terrorism
WASHINGTON – The deadly shootings at military sites in Tennessee illustrate the threat that FBI officials have warned about: violence directed against a vulnerable government target by a lone gunman with apparent terrorist aspirations.
The FBI has not detailed a motive, but Thursday’s attacks that killed four Marines and one sailor are under investigation as a potential act of terrorism, with authorities combing through the gunman’s past to look for travel, contacts and online writings.
The rampage unfolded as the federal government has raised alarms about the online spread of terrorist propaganda, including repeated exhortations by groups such as the Islamic State for sympathizers to target police officers and military installations.
It came two months after two men opened fire outside a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas before being killed by police, and during a year when several dozen people in the United States have been charged with supporting terrorism, with more than 10 arrested in the month before the July 4 holiday.
“This is the new normal,” said Will McCants, a terrorism expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington. If a terrorist group is looking to influence public opinion and generate fear, he said, “this kind of tactic has a lot going for it.”
Rain calms California fast-moving wildfire
LOS ANGELES – A fast-moving wildfire that swept across a packed California interstate, sending people running for their lives, was burning more calmly Saturday as rain fell and temperatures dropped.
The fire had burned over Interstate 15 on Friday in Cajon Pass, a mountainous area 55 miles northeast of Los Angeles. It destroyed 20 vehicles on the freeway, linking Southern California and Las Vegas before burning three homes and 44 more vehicles in the nearby community of Baldy Mesa.
The size of the fire remained steady Saturday at 5.5 square miles, and it was 5 percent contained.
“Things look so much better,” Bob Poole, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman, said as he looked across the charred landscape dotted with a half-dozen small plumes of smoke.
Poole said winds gusting to 30 mph caused some flare-ups within the perimeter of the fire, “but nothing that’s giving us too much concern.”
Associated Press
