The rush to conclusions concerning the identities of the San Bernardino shooters continued Wednesday night as CNN law enforcement analyst Harry Houck (no relation to this writer) speculated during Erin Burnett OutFront that the perpetrators “could be some right-wing group, for all I know” -- despite the fact that little is known about them.
Houck’s prediction was set up by host Erin Burnett, who asked him about who could be behind this attack considering its “unprecedented nature”: “We've only had two multiple shooter incidents since the year 2000 and none of them have anything been like this, but if it's not an international incident, what could it be?”
Mincing no words, Houck immediately declared that “[i]t could be some right-wing group, for all I know” before going onto expressing doubts about the shooting being linked to Islamic terrorism:
You know, what's really strange about this attack to me is, I'm thinking, if this attack was somehow terrorist-related, ISIS or you know, al-Qaeda, something like that, why wouldn't they just stay there and kill as many people as possible? And just, you know, kill themselves because usually you see that a lot also in these types of attacks.
Hours earlier on CNN, former FBI official and fellow law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes surmised that “an anti-government domestic militia group” likely was behind it despite him having “no information” to support that conclusion.
While Burnett continued on and chose not to disagree with Houck, Fuentes met opposition just over 20 minutes later from former Navy SEAL Jonathan Gilliam, who ruled that he prefers not “to use the word militia or any other term right now because I just don't want people specifically looking for specific people.”
The relevant portion of the transcript from CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront on December 2 can be found below.
CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
December 2, 2015
7:37 p.m. EasternERIN BURNETT: Harry, when you hear Bob talking about the unprecedented nature and the concern he feels when he — three — multiple — three shooters. We've only had two multiple shooter incidents since the year 2000 and none of them have anything been like this, but if it's not an international incident, what could it be?
HARRY HOUCK: It could be some right-wing group, for all I know. You know, what's really strange about this attack to me is, I'm thinking, if this attack was somehow terrorist-related, ISIS or you know, al-Qaeda, something like that, why wouldn't they just stay there and kill as many people as possible? And just, you know, kill themselves because usually you see that a lot also in these types of attacks.
BURNETT: Right. It was not a suicide mission, Bob, to Harry's point.
HOUCK: Right. I'm not discounting everything anything Bob’s saying because I’m speculating like the rest of us here, but that's something else I'm looking at here and they are playing, like I said before, was great until they got out of the area where they did the shooting and then these guys still stuck around. That shows me a level of stupidity on their part.
