The 15 year old boy who killed civilian police officer Curtis Cheng yesterday in Sydney’s west, has been identified as Farad Jabar Khalil Mohammad.
The ABC reported from police sources that, “It appeared the teenager had acted alone. They said he had earlier gone to a mosque or prayer hall in Parramatta where, after prayer, he changed into a black robe.”
“The people there went looking for him after prayer,” one source said.
So immediately prior the attack, the gunman had come from a Mosque, where he was known, yet the ABC repeated again that, “There is a fair bit of information that he acted alone.” A strange statement, which leaves one wondering what evidence, particularly at this early stage, can imply that a person acted alone?
Yet again we are being told that we have a ‘lone wolf’ attack. This rhetoric is becoming tragically predictable.
Are we to really believe that Mohammed, clearly motivated by Islam, and who attended the Mosque immediately before his execution-style killing of Curtis Cheng acted entirely alone, with not the slightest assistance, motivation, or encouragement from anyone else? Of course not. There is no doubt a plethora of information that is not forthcoming.
I am overwhelmed by the sense of deja vu when Islamic leaders told us the Sydney siege gunman, Man Haron Monis was a “loner” who “kept to himself” despite having thousands of Facebook followers.
It is time to question, and to get to the bottom of these half-truths, and mis-truths, that the Australian public keeps being told when these violent events take place.
And – despite the selective reporting – we must acknowledge that these events, and the motivation to carry them out, do in fact, have quite a lot to do with Islam.
