By Devlin Barrett
In the wake of a fatal Las Vegas shooting of two police officers
and a third victim, Attorney General Eric Holder is asking federal
law enforcement agencies to notify him directly if they detect
threats of violence from antigovernment extremists, a
law-enforcement official said Monday.
Police officials said the Sunday shooting was carried out by a
married couple who walked into a pizza parlor and shot two officers
on their lunch break, then walked to a nearby Wal-Mart and killed
another person. The couple then killed themselves in an apparent
suicide pact, officials said.
Police are investigating whether the suspects were motivated by
antigovernment sentiment.
Just last week, Mr. Holder announced he would reconstitute a
long-defunct Justice Department task force on domestic terrorism,
with a focus on those who plot violence out of antigovernment or
racial prejudice. That panel is to meet in coming weeks, and Mr.
Holder was briefed by aides Monday on the Las Vegas incident.
The task force the Justice Department is reviving was originally
launched in the aftermath of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. It was
scheduled to convene the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, but given the
terror attacks of that day it didn't meet, and the group's work was
quickly eclipsed by the response to those attacks and the effort to
defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.
The Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee will be made up of
officials from the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and U.S. Attorney's offices.
Write to Devlin Barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com
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