An exclusive account of how actions taken prevented a terrorist attack from becoming deadlier at the Curtis Culwell Center. By John Wilborn
For many, May 3, 2015, will live for all the wrong reasons. The Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, became infamously linked to an attack by two men with the intent to kill. The men drove from Phoenix, AZ to an event at the venue outside of Dallas that featured an exhibit displaying cartoon images of the prophet Mu- hammad along with guest speakers. But for many others, including venue General Manager John Wilborn, the day had many things go right. The only deaths were those of the two assailants, Elton the Garland Police Department and eventually killed by four members of a SWAT team. A third man, Abdul Malik Abdul Kareen, remains under indictment in Ar- used in the attack. Ties to the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIL) were found in the attack. In a one-hour, exclusive interview with Facility Manager magazine, Wilborn
recounted the months, weeks, and days leading up to the event, as well as the after- math at his venue, which contains both an arena and a conference center. Wilborn described the events of the day, of the attack, and of a never-before-shared tactic that helped to prevent further bloodshed both outside and inside the venue. The real-life and real-time security lessons included plenty of crucial decisions
wants to have happen.
The Event Gets Planned October 29, 2014, is when this whole process basically started. There was a contract issued to Sound Vision, an organization based out of Chicago, for an event on January 17, 2015. They had previously rent- ed from us on February 1, 2014, with a regular conference center rent- al. Our conference center generates the least amount of revenue at our facility, and so it was a basic rental. They had been here before with no problems. It was a Muslim organization that donated and raised funds for special needs for Muslim kids. We had a good event with that rental. On January 5, 2015, we began receiving a barrage of emails about
- a possible problem. Why are we getting all this? The speakers that they had scheduled to speak had spoken at other places around here with no problems whatsoever, so I didn’t understand why we were being targeted or why the school board was being targeted because, once again, we had not had any previous problems.
12 Facility Manager Magazine
that there would be protesters for this event and that the number could these groups stating that they were going to have anti-Muslim protests. At that point we were very shocked and really didn’t think it was going to happen in terms of anybody protesting. Our mindset was what’s the big deal about this? The police talked about staging so we put them over in our north lot across the street from the facility, which is where the protesters would be. By noon people started gathering and started driving up and sure enough it was packing up pretty quick. The event was going to start at 6 pm. There was a variety of protesters. We had motorcycle groups, a
circus over on the north lot and resembled something between a pep rally and a football tailgate party. Individuals had barbecue pits and everything. They were there for the long haul and had various types there. For the most part, it was peaceful. They were loud, but they were peaceful. The Sound Vision event had only 100 people. As the attendees -
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