CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The suspects in the New Orleans and Las Vegas attacks have ties to the Carolinas.
Both were soldiers who served at Fort Liberty, the U.S. Army base near Fayetteville.
Reading headlines about how a veteran and an active service member are accused of carrying out possible terrorist attacks on the first day of the new year can be triggering to those who’ve spent their lives serving our country. Even so, for some, the news doesn’t come as a shock.
“So many people have lost their lives over these alleged terrorist attacks, and it is sad, but not surprising to me that there seems to be some military connections here,” said Kristofer Goldsmith, a veteran.
Goldsmith now runs Task Force Butler, an organization tracking domestic extremists.
“Extremist organizations target veterans for recruitment and radicalization for the same reasons that Fortune 500 companies target veterans for recruitment and that is because we are great members of a team,” he said.
In the case of the man accused of ramming a truck through New Year’s Eve crowds in the French Quarter of New Orleans, investigators believe he had ties to Isis.
“There seems to be a radical religious element to that that,” said Goldsmith. “Because of something that they experienced while deployed or while in the military, they may have witnessed or engaged in something that kind of created a massive moral injury which separated them from what would have been a normal set of values and ethics.”
As for the Army soldier thought to be behind the Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion, it’s not clear whether he’s connected to any extremist groups.
“With the use of a Cybertruck and parking in front of Trump tower, that seems clear to send a message,” said Goldsmith.
Both men were deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 but as of now, investigators are working to figure out if they knew each other and if the attacks are linked.
Despite the new information coming out, Goldsmith wants to make it clear veterans are not inherently violent.
“We’re more likely than our peers to graduate from college with a higher GPA,” he said. “We’re more likely to run successful businesses. We’re more likely to run for office, more likely to volunteer. That is what veterans should be known for. We shouldn’t be known for the very small handful of the worst of the worst.”
Goldsmith believes part of the way people can prevent tragedies like these from happening is to make sure they’re funding and supporting organizations, like the VA, which help veterans get the care and help needed when they return home.
