An Islamist radical recruited to Somalia from Minneapolis inspired the would-be “Texas Terror” killers, who were gunned down in Garland, Texas Sunday night by a sharp-shooting law enforcement officer before they could carry out their mass-murder plot at an art exhibit sponsored by First Amendment heroine Pamela Geller.

It’s just the latest example of how and why Minneapolis—and specifically the congressional district of Muslim Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison—has become ground zero for the threat to the United States from Islamist terror groups such as ISIS and Al-Shabaab.

As Minnesota CBS affiliate WCCO reports:

In recent months, Elton Simpson, one of the two Texas gunmen, began communicating through Twitter with the Minnesota fugitive known as Mujahid Miski who is in Somalia. On April 23, Miski tweeted “The brothers from the Charlie Hebdo attack did their part. It’s time for brothers in the #US to do their part.” … Moments before last night’s attack Simpson tweeted “May Allah accept us as mujahideen” and then created his own hashtag #texasattack. Minutes later, Simpson and the other gunmen were dead. Soon after, Miski and other radicals were online celebrating Simpson’s martyrdom and even tweeting “This one should hit the front page.” Miski also tweeted that he would miss Simpson’s daily greetings.

The terrorist threat emanates from the Minneapolis neighborhood known as “Little Mogadishu,” home to one of the highest concentration of Somali immigrants in the USA.

The Little Mogadishu neighborhood is represented by Democrat congressman Keith Ellison, who liberals proudly tout as the first Muslim-American Congressman. Ellison – who famously swore his oath of office on a Koran – has been a key player in public attacks on those seeking to expose the threat of radical Islam, including former Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert.

Somali terror cell Al-Shabaab has been actively and successfully recruiting in Ellison’s district for years, even producing a slick recruitment video inviting young men in Minnesota to travel overseas and join the jihad. The video has proven disturbingly effective.

How bad is the problem in Rep. Ellison’s Minneapolis district? So bad that even liberal think-tank Think Progress has been forced to acknowledge it. They highlighted a recent story about Ellison’s constituents trying to join ISIS.

On April 19, six Somali-Americans were arrested for attempting to travel to Syria and link up with the Islamic State, also referred to as ISIS or ISIL. All were young men between the ages of 19 and 21. Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19, Adnan Farah, 19, Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19, and Guled Ali Omar, 20, were arrested in Minneapolis while Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 21, and Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21, were arrested trying to buy fake passports in San Diego. These men are the latest in a line of young Somali-Americans recruited to join FTOs, an issue that this community — described by locals as “vibrant, resilient, and peaceful” — has faced since 2006.

That April incident actually shares a link with the Texas Terror Attack: instigator Muhammad Miski, as WCCO also reported:

The November 2014 indictment of Minneapolis resident Abdi Nur says Nur left for Syria in May of 2014, just a few months after becoming Facebook friends with Miski. After Nur joined ISIS, Miski continued to give him advice, tweeting, “the brothers from Minneapolis are well connected… it’s something we have learned after six year in Jihad.” Nur, in turn, is credited with recruiting the six Minnesota terror suspects arrested last month. Through Twitter, Miski has denounced the arrests of the six and even encouraged turnout at the April 25 protest by Somali community members in St. Paul.

Just last month, Rep. Ellison penned a New York Times editorial opposing efforts to make it more difficult for Americans to send money to Somalia. Critics allege that under the current system, too much of the money remitted to Somalia ends up in the hands of terrorists and criminal gangs.