Posted on 09/24/2013 11:40:40 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Department of Homeland Security is urging shopping malls in the United States to increase security in the aftermath of the carnage wrought by al Qaeda’s Somalia affiliate over the weekend in Nairobi.
Malachy Kavanagh, a spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, told The Daily Beast on Monday that the department contacted shopping malls Sunday to check on the precautions they were taking against mass shooters.
U.S. intelligence officials say there is no specific threat information suggesting that al Qaeda is planning a similar kind of mass shooting in American shopping malls. Nonetheless, security experts worry about copycats.
“There could be copycats,” said Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. McCaul said he was concerned about psychologically unstable people or radicalized Americans looking at the images from the Westgate mall in Nairobi and seeking to carry out a similar attack in the United States.
“After 9/11 we had the two shooters who ran up and down the East Coast,” he said. McCaul stressed that the two men, known as the D.C. snipers, were not connected to al Qaeda. But he said, “You could have someone who is mentally unstable, and this is their unhealthy way to draw attention to themselves.”
A Department of Homeland Security official on Monday confirmed that the department was recently in communication with “commercial facilities, which include shopping centers and malls in the United States.” The official added, “At this time, there is no indication of a threat to the homeland related to the incident in Nairobi.”
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
The Mall of America, the biggest shopping mall in the United States, has already increased security measures in response to the Nairobi mall siege over the weekend.
“Mall of America continues to monitor the tragic events unfolding in Kenya with the help of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies,” said a spokesman for the mall. “Mall of America has implemented extra security precautions. Some may be noticeable to guests, and others won’t be. We will continue to follow the situation, along with law enforcement, and will remain vigilant as we always do in similar situations.”
The giant shopping mall is in Bloomington, Minnesota, less than 20 minutes from Minneapolis, which boasts a vibrant Somali-American community, from which al Qaeda’s Somalia affiliate, Al-Shabab, has been recruiting heavily.
Shootings in American shopping malls are not uncommon. Two women were killed at a San Francisco mall in July, and last Christmas two were fatally shot in a mall in Portland, Oregon, before the shooter turned the gun on himself.
In 2007 a Somali man with ties to al Qaeda was arrested for plotting to bomb a mall in Columbus, Ohio. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support for terrorists and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Many of the malls contacted by DHS on Sunday said they were implementing additional security precautions as a result of the events in Nairobi.
“Most [shopping] centers have their own security in place, and they could increase that, meaning they would bring in extra security officers, put more security officers in uniform to be a more obvious presence,” said Kavanagh. “They would reach out to local law enforcement officers and ask them to increase patrols in the centers.”
Echoing McCaul, Kavanaugh said the biggest fear among management at U.S. shopping malls was that ambitious copycats would draw inspiration from Nairobi.
“The U.S. security industry follows world events,” he said, “because the fear is [that] like what you saw at the Navy Yard or in Sandy Hook, that you can have an individual who is mentally deranged or someone who has been radicalized who would carry out a copycat attack.”
It is enormous - one of the five biggest in the country, I believe.
There is almost no security that I've ever seen.
It's under some of the strictest anti-gun laws in the country, so there's almost no chance of running into armed civilians.
Exits from the buildings are scarce and driving out of the parking area is a horrific and confusing nightmare even when there is no panic.
It has an open air atrium design, so anything from bullets to poison gas can move between all four floor instanteously.
It's packed on the weekends.
And, as an added bonus to nutjob islamis, a very large percentage of the customers are hasidim from the large hassidic communities in the area.
I'm surprised it hasn't been targeted already.
My wife works in a mall and has for many years.
Exactly.
"Know your target and what is beyond it."
Putting 10 more retired old men in the mall won’t solve the problem. Kicking all members of the ROP out of the country will.
Carry safe and always carry.
added a couple extra for you....good listing.
1. hijack danger —> pilots got guns —> hijacks STOPPED
2. military base danger—> ??? —> military base shootings will stop
3. mall danger —> ?? —> mall shootings will stop
4. college danger -> ?? -> college shootings will stop
5. move danger -> ?? -> movie shootings will stop
I'm guessing it's not Mary.
Seriesley! Sines r 4 the edicated peeps.
I heard it was Barack.
Indeed, I was quite impressed with this young man, I believe he was about 21??
He showed great wisdom in his decision not to fire under a very stressful situation.
These clowns keep talking about ‘lone wolf wackos’ as if the Kenyan Mall never happened. So far the count of the terrorists is up to 16; 5 dead; 11 surrendered. All were heavily armed and ready for work. Do these security experts expect the sight of two donut scarfers instead of one to frighten these kind of folk away?
Frankly, a rifle squad of Marines couldn’t prevent killings from happening, as any forces are by definition in a reactive role. Bad guy is the initiator, same as attacks in Afghanistan.
Additionally, regardless of security type or arms, the mall security offices are in fixed locations. And every third world maintenance guy knows where it is and how many are there.
Locally a nearby hospital has a uniformed cop at the ER, in an enclosed room with lexan shields at the counters. The duty officer is seated along side the admitting clerk. No fast reaction possible. Evem worse, the security office is around the corner about fifty feet away. While visiting I happened to peek through the open door and spotted an open gun cabinet. I didn’t approach the door, just saw what I saw while walking past, didn’t even break stride. I now know where to pick up at least three select fire carbines plus what ever else might be useful.
How many similar situations are FReepers aware of? Too many I expect.
A Kenyan mall, Mumbai, Beslan school, or Moscow theater event is, sadly, likely to happen.
Armed rent a cops in every social security IRS... office? Somebody is scared. They hang out the gun ban signs like a badge of honor. Those who paint themselves into a corner with these garbage fixes mark themselves as quantifiable targets.
Armed citizens deter crime, negates police response time and puts victims skin in the game on equal ground.
Bring it to Texas. The biggest mall in the Houston area is Katy Mills Mall. The anchor store is Bass Pro Shops. Plus the mall is heavily populated with suburban dads wearing loose fitting dockers or shorts. I guesstimate a pocket pistol carry ratio of about 1 in 10.
Come on down Al Shabaab, we’ll change your name to Al Swiss Cheese
Terrorists are claiming they rented a store in the mall. That’s where they stored munitions/weapons.
Malls are such obvious target that I stopped going into those places 10 years ago. Armed citizens is a partial fix for the problem but car and truck bombs are way too possible and CCW doesn’t help much against those.
He will do that when he determines to put big covered malls out of business.
I’ve speculated that the biggest threat is an attack on Universities, where ME types are all over the place and blend in. Imagine several coordinated hostage takings on several campuses.
What’s wrong with this picture is that Americans think the Moslem they elected to be President is an American and has America’s interests in mind. This is the President who bowed to the Keeper of the Holy Places in Arabia.
The Department of Homeland Security is urging shopping malls in the United States to increase security in the aftermath of the carnage wrought by al Qaeda’s Somalia affiliate over the weekend in Nairobi.
Really? Just what the Hell do they think these Malls can do?
I sincerely doubt that we are going to see agents with full auto weapons patrolling our malls any time soon. Our economy is still in tank. Who is going to pay for more officer, better trained and better equipped officers?
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