As the story unfolded, news outlets zeroed in on two key details mentioned in the FBI's preliminary statement on the incident: an ISIL (ISIS) flag was found in Jabbar's vehicle, and his social media accounts contained posts that suggest he may have been inspired by the group. For many, this was enough to frame Jabbar, who was killed at the scene by police gunfire, as a terrorist linked to ISIL.
While the FBI says it is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism, at the time of this writing, there is no evidence to suggest Jabbar was ordered by ISIL to carry out an attack on US soil. The FBI has not specified what evidence it has used to make that legal determination or released detailed information on a possible motive.
What we do know is that Jabbar was a US Army veteran who served in the US military for 13 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan. He was reportedly going through a divorce and had expressed a desire to kill his entire family. All this complicates the narrative significantly and calls into question the assumptions being made about what drove him to kill so many people.
The claim by FBI officials and even US President Joe Biden that the attacker was inspired by ISIL raises important questions about journalistic responsibility. How do we, as journalists, extrapolate our reporting from official statements versus the broader context of facts?
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