Thread by @mattdpearce

.@oneunderscore__ — who I trust on these matters — says the anti-immigrant manifesto currently circulating online was posted on 8chan hours before today’s shooting in El Paso.

If authentic, that would make today’s shooting an act of domestic terrorism. msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/el…

A few questions that need to be answered: 1. Whether the shooter got his gun(s) legally; 2. whether he was on the FBI’s radar before the shooting; 3. whether there were other warning signs that often precede this kind of attack, such as a history of domestic violence.

At a broader level, this sort of attack (if the manifesto is authentic) would fit into a pattern of white nationalist/fascist domestic terrorism we’ve seen rising in the U.S. recent years, and which law enforcement has struggled — or has been slow — to respond to.

Also if the gunman went to El Paso to make some kind of political point about “white genocide” and Latinos in the U.S., I have news for everybody about the history of El Paso. (Alas, we are at the mercy of morons with guns.)

A couple other points: El Paso was one of the safest cities in the U.S., at least until this guy decided to show up. Secondly, Walmart stopped selling semi-automatic rifles (like the one used in today’s shooting) in 2015, and it doesn’t sell handguns, though it sells other guns.

This is interesting: @oneunderscore__ reports that law enforcement saw the manifesto before the shooting: “Law enforcement was analyzing the document before the shooting began but were unable to verify the author’s identity or potential target in advance.” nbcnews.com/news/us-news/i…

Bellingcat reports this is the third time this year that an attacker has posted on 8chan’s /pol channel before their attack: bellingcat.com/news/americas/…

In conclusion, we have a fascist movement in this country. It doesn’t look like the European mass movements of the past — it’s more individualized — but it’s killing people.