After initially describing the shooting rampage of Kori Ali Muhammad as a “random act of violence,” the Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer announced on Tuesday that the murderous actions of Muhammad, who had yelled the Islamic slogan “Allahu Akbar” during his murderous actions, were “solely based on race” and not an act of terrorism.
“This is solely based on race, and it had nothing to do with terrorism in spite of the statement he made,” said Chief Dyer in a press conference a few hours after the shooting that took three white men’s lives.
Earlier that day, Dyer revealed that Muhammad (pictured above) was also suspected of having fatally shot a security guard at a Motel 6 on the previous Thursday. Dyer said that while the investigation was still in its early stages, authorities were certain the triple murder was a “random act of violence.”
“What we know is that this was a random act of violence,” Dyer said. “There is every reason to believe he acted alone.”
Despite his description of the murders as “random,” however, Dyer noted that Muhammad’s Facebook page indicates that he “does not like white people, and he has anti-government sentiments.” Meanwhile, Muhammad’s Twitter accounted includes tweets proclaiming “Allahu Akbar,” as he had during the rampage. According to evidence, Muhammad was attempting to “kill as many white people as he could,” AP reports.
(Mediaite points out that AP egregiously attempted to downplay Muhammad’s Islamic ideology in a tweet that replaced the Islamic phrase “Allahu Akbar” with “God is Great.” The move did not go unnoticed online; read John Nolte’s response to AP’s translation game here.)
On Tuesday, Muhammad shot two men outside of social service agency Catholic Charities. The third man was a passenger in a Pacific Gas & Electric truck. Though Muhammad fired on a fourth white man, he did not hit him. The Fresno Bee provides more details:
Dyer said the gunman walked up to a PG&E truck in the 300 block of North Van Ness Avenue about 10:45 a.m. and shot the passenger repeatedly. The driver of the pickup then sped to Fresno police headquarters on M Street. The second shooting was only a few seconds later and was at Van Ness and Mildreda Street, where the gunman shot at but missed a resident. The gunman then turned onto Fulton Street and fired several rounds at another man, striking and killing him, Dyer said. After reloading at a bus stop, the gunman then shot and killed a man in the parking lot of Catholic Charities in the 100 block of North Fulton Street, he said.
