Fareed Mumuni, a 23-year-old who was committed to joining ISIS, was sentenced to 17 years in prison last week for the attempted murder of an FBI agent.
In June 2015, FBI agents were executing a search warrant at Mumuni’s Staten Island apartment in connection with a suspected plot by Munther Omar Saleh of Queens to detonate pressure cooker bombs, according to court documents.
During the search, Mumuni attacked FBI agent Kevin Coughlin with a knife, stabbing him repeatedly.
Coughlin survived the brutal attack because of the metal plates in his raid vest.
Mumuni faced up to 100 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2017 to conspiracy to provide ISIS with support, conspiracy to assault federal officers and attempted murder of federal officers.
Coughlin appeared in court for Mumuni’s sentencing and made a statement: “When Mr. Mumuni came down the stairs that day, he came down the stairs with the intention to kill one of us. I’ve never met you. I’ve never wronged you, yet you tried to kill me. This was not a battlefield, this was the city of New York and you tried to kill me.”
Judge Margo Brodie sentenced Mumuni to 17 years in prison last week.
Saleh was sentenced in February to 18 years for conspiring to aid ISIS, including recruiting Mumuni to ISIS.
“You made clear that if you couldn’t travel abroad, you would attack law enforcement, and that’s exactly what you did on the morning you were arrested. There is no question that your conduct here is grave, reprehensible and that you attacked a law enforcement officer and could have killed him,” Brodie said.
Mumuni’s defense attorney, Anthony Ricco, called his client a victim who fell prey to ISIS recruiters after prosecutors asked the judge for an 85-year sentence for Mumuni.
“He was not a leader. He was recruited… Fareed Mumuni is a young person who is capable of redemption,” Ricco had said.
