Denton County sheriff on UK attack: ‘Wake up America'

DENTON COUNTY, Texas - Shortly after the attack in Manchester, the Denton County sheriff posted a frank and incendiary message on his Facebook page.

Sheriff Tracey Murphree's post said "political correctness" from the left in the face of a violent ideology will bring an attack like Monday night's.

The sheriff has received backlash for what he posted hours after the attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester that killed 22 people and injured 59 others. Critics called the message itself extreme, but he's not without support.

"I'm being accused of being a racist. I'm being accused of condemning the Muslim faith," Murphree said. "I am condemning the radical Islamic terrorists who have perverted Islam and are attacking our kids."

The sheriff wrote in part, "You better wake up America. While you are distracted by the media and the crying of the left, Islamic Jihadists are among us and want to kill you."

Murphree says the Manchester bombing indicates it might be too late for Europe to protect itself from welcoming people with radical ideologies, but our country needs to do something quick before it "dies of political correctness."

"We are not immune to this," he said. "There are people out there who want to destroy our way of life and want to kill us."

The sheriff's comments are upsetting to Denton County residents like Tom Cochran.

"When he goes and makes statements like this, he encourages extremism," Cochran said. "He encourages people to go ahead and discriminate against our Muslim neighbors."

Saad Kazmi is the president of the Dallas chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America. He says the sheriff is speaking out for political gain and making a blanket statement about Muslims in America.

"We have been welcoming immigrants here from the day of inception of this country," Kazmi said. "How many people out of that population have caused problems? It just does not match at all."

But U.S. Army veteran and Denton County resident Guy Thomas supports the sheriff's sentiment, saying our country is too accommodating to the Islamic faith.

"People have already forgotten what happened in Boston, and we've forgotten what happened in San Bernardino," Thomas said. "We've forgotten what happened in Garland not too long ago."

It's important to note that the Manchester bombing suspect was born and raised in Manchester to parents who are refugees from Libya. He was not an immigrant in England.