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The FBI was warned about the Dallas federal courthouse gunman while he was still in the Army
A relative of the man who opened fire outside downtown Dallas' federal building this week warned the FBI in 2016 that he shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun because he was depressed and suicidal, his mother said Thursday.
Brian Clyde's half-brother called the FBI about his concerns, their mother Nubia Brede Solis said. Clyde was in the Army at the time.
On Monday, Clyde opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle at the Earle Cabell Federal Building. He was fatally shot by federal law enforcement. No one else was seriously injured. His family believes Clyde wanted to be killed.
The special agent in charge of the Dallas FBI office, Matthew DeSarno, could not immediately be reached for comment.
But a federal law enforcement official confirmed the half-brother called a national hotline on July 1, 2016, leaving a message to report that Clyde was "suicidal and had a fascination with guns."
But the official said the half-brother didn't report a threat against an entity or individual, so the FBI couldn't seize Clyde's weapons.
The half-brother declined to comment Thursday.
No history of violence
Public records show Clyde had no history of violence. Mental health struggles do not automatically prevent someone from owning a gun.
Because the FBI had no legal reason to pursue an investigation, no further action was taken.
Federal policy was changed after a gunman killed 17 people in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Now, warnings like the one about Clyde are routed to police departments where the calls originated so local officers can follow up and ask the caller for more details. Today, the half-brother's call would be sent to officers in Washington state, where he lives.
Brede Solis said the FBI never spoke to her about the warning call. She said the half-brother told her about it when she called to tell him Clyde had been killed.
"He felt Brian couldn't have a gun because he was institutionalized for two weeks and because he was in the Army," Brede Solis said Thursday from her home in Corpus Christi.
Clyde, who had enlisted in the Army right out of high school, had been placed in a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2016, said Brede Solis, 59.
Suicidal thoughts
She recently found a report in Clyde's military paperwork saying he had suicidal thoughts as early as six months after his enlistment -- about February 2016.
Clyde served at Fort Campbell in Kentucky for about 18 months before he was honorably discharged in February 2017. Typically, those who enlist serve for four years.
The half-brother contacted the FBI around the time Clyde was receiving in-patient treatment while at Fort Polk in Louisiana, during a training exercise that simulated combat conditions.
Their mother said the half-brother, who is also a veteran, didn't tell her or Clyde about the call because he didn't want to drive a wedge between them and himself.
After Clyde's discharge from the Army, he lived with his mother for two years while attending Del Mar College, a community college in Corpus Christi.
Brede Solis said that she knew her son had been depressed but that he told her he was doing better after leaving the Army in the winter of 2017.
'No violent signs'
She said she saw "no violent signs" when he moved back in with her.
Brede Solis said she didn't know when Clyde purchased the rifle he used in Monday's attack.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has determined where Clyde got his rifle -- identified by Dallas gun shop owners as a cheap version of an AR-15 -- but the agency said the FBI has prohibited it from releasing any details.
Brede Solis said she'd never seen the rifle before but knew Clyde had a pistol, which he told her was for self-defense.
"I never saw any guns lying around the apartment," Brede Solis said.
Brede Solis said she doesn't think her son should have had an assault weapon.
"I don't think people should have those types of guns," she said. "Those guns are for war."
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©2019 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Military court upholds 10-year prison term for ex-Parris Island drill instructor who abused Muslim recruits
A military court denied the appeal of a former Parris Island drill instructor sentenced to 10 years in prison for abusing three Muslim recruits, including Raheel Siddiqui of Taylor, who died during boot camp in 2016.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals reviewed the 2017 court-martial of Gunnery Sgt. Joseph A. Felix Jr. and affirmed his conviction and sentence.
In a decision issued last week, the court called Felix a "bully" whose "misconduct impacted an entire generation of Marines."
"The appellant was placed in a position of trust, charged with turning young men into Marines. He was one of their first authority figures — their first example of what a Marine was supposed to be," Senior Judge and Capt. Frank D. Hutchison wrote for the court.
"Instead of providing a positive example and conducting meaningful training, he taught his recruits, by his example, that rule-breaking was commonplace and that violence against fellow Marines was not only acceptable, but required to instill discipline. Not only did he fail to correct or report his subordinates' bad behavior, he encouraged it and participated in worse and more pervasive behavior."
In 2010 my rifle squad was finishing a patrol through southern Marjah, Afghanistan. With the temperature rising that May, sweat covered us as we passed through fully-bloomed poppy fields ready for harvest.
It had been quiet for most of the day so we were heading back to base. But after passing our final checkpoint, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was the earth exploding in front of us.
"Contact left!" I shouted to my squad as I raised my rifle and fired back at the Taliban ambushers, attempting to suppress their fire. Others bounded across the open field toward them.
It was over within minutes. By the time we got to their position, all that was left was an abandoned shooting platform. Like ghosts, the Taliban was gone.
My time in Afghanistan is long behind me now, but in spring I always tend to see, hear, and smell my war, and I fear I always will. People always ask me what things remind me of war. Is it loud noises? Lights?
Paradoxically, it is the radiant light of a spring day glistening on my skin. It releases feelings of regret and remorse entangled in my soul that only find respite in shadows hidden from the sun's golden rays.
I call it the remembering.
Pentagon identifies Green Beret and explosive ordnance disposal specialist killed in Afghanistan
Two soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan have been identified by the Pentagon as Special Forces Master Sgt. Micheal B. Riley, 32, and Sgt. James G. Johnston, 24.
Riley, who was on his sixth deployment to Afghanistan, was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Carson, Colorado, defense officials said on Thursday. Johnston served with the 79th Ordnance Battalion (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), 71st Ordnance Group at Fort Hood, Texas, defense officials announced.
Both were killed by small arms fire on Tuesday during combat operations in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, a Defense Department news release says. A total of nine U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far in 2019.
This Army sergeant just nailed the first-ever perfect score in a service rifle shooting competition
Army Sgt. Benjamin Cleland is officially one of the most badass shooters in America.
The Fort Benning soldier and member of the Army Marksmanship Unit's Service Rifle Team set a national record with the first-ever perfect score on a National Rifle Association high-power rifle course in Oak Ridge, Tennessee earlier this month, the Army announced.
'Glory' and the first black soldiers to fight in the Union Army are returning to theaters after 30 years
The story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment will return to the big screen for two days only when Glory hits more than 600 theaters across the country on July 21 and 24.