John Walsh, Colorado’s U.S. attorney, is spending three days this week in Washington, D.C., as part of a .
His visit comes after four teen girls from the Denver area were stopped last year as they tried to make their way to Syria to join Islamic State terrorists.
“The common theme is we really need to work and engage the community if we have any hope of addressing this issue,” Walsh told The Denver Post on Wednesday, the second day of the summit. “That means religious communities across the board, as well as schools and parents.”
Walsh said social media, in particular, is a worrisome tool used by terrorist recruiters. Online interaction has been one of the main topics Walsh has spent discussing during meetings with members of the metro area’s religious communities to prevent radicalization.
“The thing about the events in Denver and Aurora over the past year is it is really a reflection of the diversity of the Colorado community,” Walsh said of the teens who tried to join the terrorist group. “What I think is really heartening about the situation in the community is that we had a really strong response.”
Three Arapahoe County girls who were stopped on their way to join the Islamic State in October had interacted through Twitter with high-level terrorist recruiters who already had lured several Westerners to Syria, .
Last month, 19-year-old Shannon Conley, of Arvada, for trying to go to Syria early last year to aid terrorists.
Walsh is one of seven U.S. attorneys invited to the summit. He said he hopes, first and foremost, to bring back from the meeting new and innovative ways to empower at-risk communities.
“Although we have had four people try to travel to Syria to join (the Islamic State), they never got there,” Walsh said. “We are working with the community to make sure others don’t even try.”
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
