Early reports that the Garland, Texas shooters were associated with ISIS are being corroborated by evidence that he had contact with a jihadist hacker.
Before becoming a law enforcement focus in the attack on a Garland, Texas, cartoon contest, Junaid Hussain went by the cyber pseudonym, “TriCk.”
Tweets between Hussain and one of the gunmen have lent credence to the ISIS claim that it was responsible for the attack, though outside of Hussain’s involvement with the terror outfit, it’s difficult to say exactly what role ISIS played. What’s known of Hussain is pieced together from court records, police documents, online and social media activity, terror experts and a fellow hacker.
From these sources, the portrait emerges of a dangerous hacker and influential recruiter who’s able to crack online banking security systems and who has demonstrated on occasion a zany sense of humor, once dressing up as a Power Ranger and wielding a machine gun during an online chat.
The 20-year-old hacker now goes by the moniker, Abu Hussain al-Britani, he told CNN last year, a claim confirmed by American organizations tracking jihadi websites. A former member of a hacker collective that Hussain once led also told CNN that al-Britani and Hussain are the same person.
This is in addition to the tweet he sent out right before the shooting which seems to have him pledging allegiance to the Caliph of ISIS. The maggot infested terrorist group has also claimed responsibility for the attack though many experts question just how closely they were in organizing or commanding it.