Terrorism

From the Department of Justice: A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Central Islip charging Robert Fehring with mailing letters threatening to assault, shoot, and bomb LGBTQ+ affiliated individuals, organizations, and businesses. Fehring was arrested this morning and will make his initial appearance this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Steven I. Locke. “As alleged, the defendant’s …

Courthouse News reports: The Nevada Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that state law grants immunity to gun makers and sellers from lawsuits pertaining to the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert. The court ruled the text of the law and the legislative history shield the gun companies from most liability, even if the guns at issue are proven …

The Associated Press reports: A 15-year-old boy was charged Wednesday with murder, terrorism and other counts for a shooting that killed four fellow students and injured others at Michigan’s Oxford High School. Charges against Ethan Crumbley were announced Wednesday, a few hours after authorities reported the death of a fourth teen from the school in southeastern Michigan. Crumbley is charged …

From the Department of Justice: Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that MALIK SANCHEZ, a/k/a “Smooth Sanchez,” pled guilty to making a hoax threat to detonate a bomb at a restaurant in the Flatiron neighborhood in New York, New York, on or about February 13, 2021. SANCHEZ pled guilty before United …

CBS News reports: A possible terrorist attack may have been averted on Sunday by a heroic taxi driver in the northern England city of Liverpool. Video shows the moment a taxi pulled up to a hospital in the British city and exploded in a ball of flames. It emerged on Monday that the driver’s quick actions may have prevented a …

ABC News reports: For a month, FBI agents listened in as two members of a white supremacist group discussed their sinister plans: a plot to use a pro-gun rights rally in Richmond, Virginia, to engage in mass murder and attacks on critical infrastructure, which they believed would mark the start of a racial civil war. Patrik Mathews, a former Canadian …

From the Department of Justice: U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang today sentenced two members of the racially motivated violent extremist group “The Base” each to nine year in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for firearms and alien-related charges arising from federal charges in Maryland and Delaware. Judge Chuang found that, based on additional evidence presented …

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: His guilt was never really in question. Now it’s official. Nikolas Cruz, the man who terrorized Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School just minutes before school let out on Valentine’s Day 2018 slouched before Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, flanked by his defense lawyers, and declared himself guilty, one by one, of 17 counts of murder …

Miami’s CBS News affiliate reports: It’s a day many in the Parkland community and across South Florida have been waiting for. On Wednesday, confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz is expected to plead guilty to all charges stemming from the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — the deadliest high school shooting in US history. “We’re asking …

New York City’s NBC News affiliate reports: New York City’s response plans for a chemical or biological attack will be put to the test starting Monday as part of a federal preparedness study. The MTA says the Department of Homeland Security working alongside a team of researchers and city agencies will deploy a non-toxic gas on five separate days between …

The New York Times reports: For the second time in little more than five years, a British lawmaker meeting with constituents was killed in full view of the public, this time in a genteel seaside town, where the victim, a Conservative Party member of Parliament, was fatally stabbed on Friday inside a church. The attack, which the authorities declared a …

Miami’s ABC News affiliate reports: Rather than going to trial, 23-year-old Nikolas Cruz will plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and all 17 counts of attempted murder in the Valentine’s Day shooting that killed 17 people and wounded more than a dozen others. Cruz’s defense team said their client would plead guilty to life in prison without …

The BBC reports: Four women and a man were killed and two others wounded when a man used a bow and arrow to attack them in Norway. Police first received word of an attack in the town of Kongsberg, south-west of the capital Oslo, at 18:12 local time (16:12 GMT). A Danish man aged 37 has been arrested and questioned …

Via press release from the Justice Department: Emily Claire Hari, 50, f/k/a Michael Hari, was sentenced to life in prison for the Aug. 5, 2017, bombing of the Dar al-Farooq (DAF) Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. On Dec. 9, 2020, following a five-week trial, Hari was convicted by a federal jury on all five counts of the indictment, including intentionally …

The Associated Press reports: The FBI late Saturday released a newly declassified document related to logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the run-up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The document details contacts the hijackers had with Saudi associates in the U.S. but does not provide proof that senior Saudi government officials were complicit in …

Some longtime readers may recall that this story was posted annually on this day for the first few years of JMG.   That Day Manhattan, September 11th, 2001 That day, I got to my office on 42nd Street at about 8:55am, a bit later than usual because that morning I’d voted for the first time as a New Yorker, pulling the …

From the Broward County Sheriff’s Office: A Chicago woman was arrested after making a false bomb threat at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). According to Broward Sheriff’s Office Threat Management Unit detectives at around 8:45 p.m., Monday, Sept. 6, BSO deputies responded to a bomb threat in Terminal 3 at FLL located at 200 Terminal Drive in Fort Lauderdale. On …

The New York Times reports: Making good on a campaign promise, President Biden directed the Justice Department and other federal agencies on Friday to oversee the review and declassification of documents related to the F.B.I.’s investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In an executive order, Mr. Biden instructed Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to publicly release the declassified documents …

The New York Times reports: Six people were injured in a knife attack at a supermarket in New Zealand on Friday, an outburst of violence that the prime minister labeled a “terrorist attack” that had been carried out by a “violent extremist” inspired by the Islamic State. The suspect, a Sri Lankan national, was shot and killed by the police, …

The Verge reports: Amazon is planning to expand its in-house moderation team for Amazon Web Services, according to a new report from Reuters. Citing two sources within the company, the report says Amazon is planning to develop a proactive threat monitoring capability within AWS, which will seek out prohibited content on AWS servers and remove it before it’s reported by …