[Dave S]

From the news stories this appears to be a lone gunman and not an al-Qaeda sleeper agent. But he appears to be motivated by the same forces we now face. One does not officially need to be a member of the al-Qaeda to be a terrorist. One can be motived by their cause and act in their place.

And as such it would be a random act of violence. What difference does it make that he had the same motivation as Fatah or Ilamic Jihad or Al-Qaeda? I would bet on a thread about hate crimes you would be arguing that motivation or intention made no difference. The victim was just as dead.

There is nothing that could have been done that likely would have prevented a loan gunman who didnt blab his intentions to the world from being able to pull off something like this.

[Lockbox]

And as such it would be a random act of violence

No an action motivated by the terrorism is still a terrorist action.