The U.S. Department of Justice announced that a former member of the Michigan Army National Guard was arrested on Tuesday and charged for attempting to execute a plan on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to “conduct a mass-shooting” at a U.S. military base in Warren, Michigan.
In a Wednesday press release, the Justice Department said that 19-year-old Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said has been charged with “attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device.”
“This defendant is charged with planning a deadly attack on a U.S. military base here at home for ISIS,” Sue J. Bai, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement, we foiled the attack before lives were lost. We will not hesitate to bring the full force of the Department to find and prosecute those who seek to harm our men and women in the military and to protect all Americans.”
Citing a criminal complaint against Said, the Justice Department said the former Michigan Army National Guard member told two undercover law enforcement officials about a plan he had developed to carry out a mass shooting at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) facility at the Detroit Arsenal, which is located in Warren, Michigan.
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The Justice Department explained that the two undercover law enforcement officials indicated in April that they were going to “carry out Said’s plan at the direction of ISIS.”
The Justice Department noted that Said “provided material assistance to the attack plan, including providing armor-piercing ammunition and magazines for the attack, flying his drone over TACOM to conduct operational reconnaissance, training the undercover employees on firearms and the construction of Molotov cocktails for use during the attack, and planning numerous details of the attack including how to enter TACOM and which building to target.”
According to Wednesday’s press release, Said was arrested on May 13, which was the day he had planned for the attack against the U.S. military base, after traveling to a location near TACOM and launching a drone in support of the “attack plan.”
The Justice Department said that Said could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the charges brought against him if he is convicted.
In Wednesday’s press release, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Counterterrorism Division Assistant Director Donald M. Holstead commended the FBI and its partner agencies for disrupting Said’s alleged attempt to “carry out an attack on a military facility in support of ISIS.” Holstead emphasized that the FBI remains “steadfast” in its effort to prevent “terrorist plans” targeted against the United States and its overseas interests.
