A police officer directs an evacuation after a shooting outside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, on May 3.MIKE STONE/Reuters
Among the myriad propaganda efforts of the Islamic State, there is a daily audio report – a run-down of the group's activities called The Bulletin. It is issued in both English and Arabic, and the production quality of both editions is flawless. Like so many of the terror organization's multimedia efforts, the daily bulletins begin with a sample of what has essentially become the IS war chant: a cappella songs about vanquishing the enemy and reigning victorious. The English version is read by a native speaker, whose accent is American but, beyond that, non-regional – a voice made for radio.
It was in The Bulletin that IS first decided to take credit for the shootings in Garland, Texas.
On Sunday, two men, Hamid Soofi, 34, and Elton Simpson, 30, drove some 1,600 kilometres from Phoenix to Garland, where an event was under way to crown the winner of a $10,000 contest to draw the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The men arrived at the Curtis Culwell Center, where the event was taking place under heavy security. They emerged from their car wearing armour and carrying assault rifles and started shooting. They managed to injure an unarmed officer before another officer shot them both dead.
Since Sunday's attack, a sprawling investigation has commenced, partly in an attempt to find out exactly what motivated the two men (beyond the nature of the event they targeted – in most interpretations of Islam, any visual representation of the prophet is strictly forbidden). One of the central questions in the case is whether the two men acted alone, or were directed by a larger organization.
On Tuesday, the Islamic State decided to claim that role.
"Two soldiers of the [caliphate] in America carry out an assault on a convention in Garland, Texas, that featured derisive cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, (peace be upon him)," said the newsreader of Tuesday's edition of The Bulletin, speaking mostly in English but with a smattering of Arabic words and phrases. Like most IS propaganda, the radio broadcast was uploaded to multiple storage sites across the Internet, a distribution method that ensures many copies remain online even if one is taken down.
"May Allah accept them both among the [martyrs], and we say to America, the defender of the cross, what's coming, (with God's permission), will be even worse."
The extent to which the Islamic State's claim holds any credibility is debatable. The White House has already deemed the Garland shooting an attempted terrorist act, but says it is still unclear whether it came at the direction of IS.
In reality, it seems unlikely that the Islamic State's leadership played any kind of central role in planning an assault that lasted roughly 15 seconds and left only the attackers dead. As with other, similar small-scale attacks across the globe, it may well be the case that the terror group proved inspirational to the assailants; one of them allegedly pledged allegiance to Amir al-Mu'minin, or the Commander of the Faithful, shortly before the shooting. The title, dating back to early Islam, was adopted by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of IS.
But for the terror group, the advantages of embracing the attackers are twofold. Firstly, by threatening similar attacks in the future, IS propagandists are able to capitalize on the fear and heightened tension created by the Garland shootings. Even if the threat proves empty, it may well succeed as a form of psychological terrorism.
But perhaps most importantly, by welcoming the Garland shooters as martyrs of the Islamic State, the group helps establish itself as an easily accessible franchise. The message sent to any would-be attackers thinking of carrying out a similar operation in the future is straightforward: Even if your operational connection to IS is essentially non-existent, the group will celebrate you as one of their own.
For many so-called "lone wolf" terrorists, the promise of being welcomed into a larger community – especially the most high-profile terror group in the world today – may well prove to be the difference between actually carrying out an attack and simply thinking of doing so.