FBI probed Texas gunman 'over jihadist sympathies'

One of the men shot dead by police when he and an accomplice attempted to storm an event hosted by an anti-Muslim group in Texas was sentenced to three years' probation in 2011 for lying to US federal agents investigating his alleged jihadist sympathies, it emerged Monday. Investigators were delving into the backgrounds of the two suspected Islamist gunmen -- they were roommates, The Los Angeles Times reported -- who opened fire with assault rifles outside Sunday's controversial exhibit of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. A quick-acting traffic policeman shot the two suspects before they were able to enter the venue in Garland, a suburb of Dallas. Commentators were quick to draw parallels to a January mass shooting at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris that killed 12 people and wounded 11 more.

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