Bradenton anti-Islam activist Terry Jones unconcerned after Texas shooting | Bradenton Herald

MANATEE -- After a shooting in a suburban Dallas venue Sunday night was blamed on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest, Bradenton-based anti-Islam activist Terry Jones, a Fry Guys fry stand owner and 2016 presidential candidate, said he is not any more concerned about his safety than he was before.

Jones said he plans to expand his business to a second, larger restaurant location in the University Mall in north Tampa. The first location is in DeSoto Square mall in Bradenton.

"This is a business, not a political action, so we are going to continue to expand business-wise," Jones said. "But also in the area we will continue to speak out."

He said Fry Guys has been looking to expand for "quite a while."

It's possible he'll hold another 9/11 event in the Bradenton area, Jones said. He confirmed Qurans will be burned and images of radical Islam leaders from Al-Qaida and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria will be burned as well.

"We definitely will do it. We just don't have a location nailed down yet," Jones said. "There's no doubt that it will happen."

Jones said the shooting in Texas encourages him to continue pursuing his activist cause. It "makes us more determined to do it," Jones said. "They knew that there would be police there, and it shows how brash and determined these people are."

Jones is using his church and run for president as a platform for anti-Islam rhetoric.

Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida, said third-party candidates run for office for several reasons, although typically they have a tough time garnering media attention or competing against Republican and Democratic candidates.

"Jones has a certain following. The question is how much coverage the media will give him," MacManus said. "The 2016 ticket is crowded, which sometimes causes media to focus on front-running candidates, leaving "fringe" candidates out."

"(Jones) might be running to keep the issue he's passionate about alive or to keep his following in step and keep attention on him as leader of that group," she added. "It can be for personal reasons. It can be to keep issues alive or it can be for ideological reasons."

In past interviews with the Herald, Jones said possible repercussions from increased visibility of running a business and for the nation's top political office do not concern him, though he's always taken protective measures such as notifying law enforcement before he travels.

His brother, Kevin Jones, will be owner and operator of the 800 square-foot Fry Guys restaurant in Tampa with an expanded menu. Kevin Jones isn't shy about expressing his concern about his brother's private life.

"Sure, it worries me," Kevin Jones said. "I can't lie about that. It would not be right if I didn't worry."

Kevin Jones said he isn't involved with any of his brother's anti-Islam activism, and Terry Jones has "very strong beliefs in what he's doing."

Kevin Jones said he came up with the idea for the business that brought his brother to operate the DeSoto Square Mall location.

"I do other things, so I didn't have the time to donate 100 percent of my time to it," Kevin Jones said.

He said he is not comfortable disclosing the identity of his employer, a multimillion-dollar company.

Terry Jones and the featured speaker at the Texas event, Dutch politician Geert Wilders, have been listed on an al-Qaida "wanted" list "for crimes against Islam."

Because Jones is on the wanted list, Robert Tackett, manager of DeSoto Square Mall, asked him to remove his picture from the Fry Guys business in Bradenton and remove his name from the lease.

Kevin Jones is the only name on the Tampa lease. He said he hopes to open the University Mall Fry Guys by the second week of June. He will not use the same kind of advertising concept the DeSoto Square mall location originally used with caricatures of the Jones brothers hanging prominently at the business.

Janelle O'Dea, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow her on Twitter@jayohday.