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INITIATIVE
Domestic Terrorism Post-9/11 (2001-2011)
During the ten years following September 11th, 2001 there were over 100 incidents of "home-grown" or domestic terrorism in the United States. To provide a valuable resource on this topic, the Crime Commission has compiled an extensive database of incidents including attacks, plots, support for, membership in, or connections with a terrorist organization. While information about terrorist incidents are available elsewhere, both on and off the Internet, the Crime Commission's database is unique in providing a centralized, concise, user-friendly, and visually engaging informational resource on domestic terrorism. read more »
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February 12, 2007
Salt Lake City, UT
Sulejman Talovic
Attack: Firearm
None Confirmed
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Trolley Square Mall mass shooting
On the evening of February 12, 2007, Sulejman Talovic, 18, entered Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, UT with a 12-gauge shotgun and a .38-caliber revolver. He fatally shot five bystanders and seriously wounded four others.
Authorities do not know why Talovic went on his shooting massacre. A legal U.S. resident from war-torn Bosnia, theories about his motivation included his formative experiences there, bullying at school and difficulties adjusting to life in the United States. The guns he used were obtained illegally.
Police shot and killed Talovic at the scene. On May 17, 2006, a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah indicted four men in connection to the gun sales, Westley Hill for the sale of the shotgun and Brenden Brown, Mackenzie Hunter and Matthew Hautala in connection to the sale of the handgun. Hill, Brown and Hautala received one year each of probation in connection to the case; Hunter was sentenced to one year and three months in prison.
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February 13, 2007
Somalia
Daniel Joseph Maldonado
Support: Personnel
Al Qaeda,
Tarek Mehanna
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U.S. citizen receives training at Somalian terrorist camp
U.S. citizen Daniel Joseph Maldonado, a Muslim convert originally from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, traveled to Somalia in December 2006 to help create an independent Islamic State in that country. While overseas, he received training in firearms and explosives at camps operated by local militants. Al Qaeda members were also present at the camps. Kenyan military forces captured Maldonado on January 21, 2007, as he was fleeing Somalia to avoid Ethiopian and Somalian forces. He was then turned over to FBI agents, returned to the United States and arrested on February 13, 2007, for receiving training from a terrorist organization. Maldonado is also an associate of Tarek Mehanna, who is awaiting trial for conspiring to bomb a shopping mall. Mehanna attempted to obtain firearms from Maldonado in 2003, according to the FBI.
On April 19, 2007, Maldonado pleaded guilty in federal court for receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas sentenced him to ten years in prison on July 20, 2007.
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February 16, 2007
New York, NY
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari (Michael Mixon)
Support: Material
None Confirmed
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U.S. citizen provides financial support for terrorist training camp
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, a U.S. citizen, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 16, 2007, for attempting to provide money to a terrorist organization.
Alishtari, a Muslim convert originally known by the name Michael Mixon, accepted $152,000 from a government informant to send to a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan for the purchase of equipment such as night vision goggles. He also stole millions through the fraudulent operation of the Flat Electronic Data Interchange, a loan investment program.
Alishtari pleaded guilty to the charges of terrorism financing and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on September 29, 2009. He was sentenced to ten years in prison on April 19, 2010.
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February 21, 2007
Chicago, IL
Khaleel Ahmed,
Zubair Ahmed
Support: Personnel
Syed Haris Ahmed,
Mohammad Zaki Amawi,
Marwan Othman El-Hindi,
Wassim I. Mazloum
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Jihadists seek paramilitary training to kill US military in Iraq
Cousins Khaleel Ahmed and Zubair Ahmed, both U.S. citizens, were arrested on February 21, 2007, for conspiring to commit terrorist acts against U.S. military personnel in Iraq.
In May 2004 the two men traveled to Egypt intending to travel on to Afghanistan and fight American forces there, but they returned to the U.S. after Zubair Ahmed's father found out about their plans. Once they were back in the U.S., the cousins sought out firearm and counter-surveillance training in order to attack American soldiers overseas. As it turned out, the man they were requesting training from was a government informer. The cousins also have ties to three men in Ohio who were convicted in 2008 for conspiring to plan attacks to kill or injure U.S. troops: Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi and Wassim Mazloum. They also communicated with Syed Haris Ahmed, who was later convicted of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
On January 15, 2009, the Ahmed cousins pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and admitted they made plans to travel overseas to maim or kill U.S. soldiers abroad. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio sentenced Zubair Ahmed to ten years in prison and Khaleel Ahmed to eight years and four months in prison on July 12, 2010.
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March 7, 2007
Abroad
Hassan Abujihaad (Paul Hall)
Support: Material
Al Qaeda,
Derrick Shareef
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Former Naval officer supplies classified military information to Al Qaeda supporters
Former U.S. Navy sailor Hassan Abujihaad, a U.S. citizen born as Paul Hall, was arrested on March 7, 2007, and indicted on March 21 for leaking classified information to alleged Al Qaeda supporters.
In 2000 and 2001 while he was serving in the U.S. Navy, Abujihad used his security clearance to forward sensitive military information about his ship to a terrorist website, Azzam Publications. The information revealed where to intercept American ships and identified potential terrorist targets. Despite the information Abujihaad supplied, his battle group was never attacked while patrolling the Gulf. The case only came to light during a raid of Azzam Publications in the United Kingdom, when a computer hard drive was found that contained a classified naval document. Abujihad also previously discussed possible terrorist attacks with his friend Derrick Shareef, who was later convicted for a plot to bomb a shopping mall.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut convicted Abujihaad on March 6, 2008, of leaking classified information to alleged Al Qaeda supporters. Initially he was also convicted of providing material support to terrorists, but a judge overturned that conviction on March 4, 2009. For leaking the information, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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April 11, 2007
Columbus, OH
Christopher Paul
Plot: Weapon of Mass Destruction
Al Qaeda,
Iyman Faris,
Nuradin Abdi
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Al Qaeda plots attack on U.S. embassies and military bases with a weapon of mass destruction (WMD)
FBI agents arrested Christopher Paul, a U.S. citizen, on April 11, 2007. Prosecutors claimed Paul, a Muslim convert, began supporting terrorists in 1989 by purchasing explosives and training radical Islamic fundamentalists in Germany.
The investigation into Paul lasted four years and spanned eight countries. He allegedly attended a military-style terrorist training camp in 1990 and joined Al Qaeda in 1991. His most serious charge was conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction to attack U.S. embassies, military bases and Americans at European resorts. He is also linked to the 2003 arrests of Iyman Faris and Nuradin Abdi, with whom he allegedly plotted to blow up a Columbus, OH, shopping mall.
Paul pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction in a terrorist attack on June 3, 2008. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio sentenced him to 20 years in prison on February 26, 2009.
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May 3, 2007
Birmingham, AL
Randall Garrett Cole,
Adam Lynn Cunningham,
Raymond Dillard,
Bonnell Hughes,
James Ray McElroy
Plot: Firearm
Alabama Free Militia
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Alabama Free Militia
On May 3, 2007, U.S. citizens Raymond Dillard, James Ray McElroy, Bonnell Hughes, Randall Garrett Cole and Adam Lynn Cunningham were indicted by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama for conspiring to make hand grenades and possession of explosives. ATF agents claimed they planned to attack Mexicans living in a town near Birmingham, AL.
The men were members of an extremist group known as the Alabama Free Militia. In simultaneous raids on members of the group, authorities recovered 130 hand grenades, 2,500 rounds of ammunition and numerous firearms, among other weapons.
Hughes pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges on June 25, 2007; Dillard, McElroy, Cole and Cunningham pleaded guilty a day later. On September 11, 2007, the court sentenced McElroy to three years and five months in prison and Cole to two years and three months in prison. A few months later on October 31, Dillard received a sentence of five years and ten months in prison, and Hughes received a sentence of two years in prison.
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May 8, 2007
Fort Dix, NJ
Agron Abdullahu,
Dritan Duka
Eljvir Duka,
Shain Duka,
Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer,
Serdar Tatar
Plot: Firearm
None Confirmed
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Plot to attack Fort Dix military base
On May 8, 2007, authorities arrested six men accused of plotting to attack the Fort Dix military base in New Jersey. The group includes Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka and Shain Duka, illegal immigrants from Albania; Serdar Tatar, a legal U.S. resident from Turkey; Agron Abdullahu, a legal U.S. resident from Albania; and Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan. The men were charged with conspiring to kill U.S. military members and aiding and abetting illegal weapons purchases.
The arrests followed a 15-month investigation of the group, which was infiltrated by two informants, as they trained with automatic weapons in the woods, watched videos of Osama bin Laden, conducted surveillance of the military base and tried to purchase AK-47 assault rifles.
Abdullahu pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on October 31, 2007, and received a sentence of one year and eight months in prison on March 31, 2008. The court convicted the five other men on December 22, 2008; and sentenced the Duka brothers to life in prison on April 29, 2009. A day later the court sentenced Shnewer to life in prison, and Tatar to 33 years in prison.
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June 1, 2007
New York City, NY
Russel Defreitas,
Kareem Ibrahim,
Abdul Kadir,
Abdel Nur
Plot: Bomb
Jamaat-al-Muslimeen
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Plot to bomb John F. Kennedy International Airport
Russell Defreitas, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Guyana, plotted to blow up fuel tanks, fuel lines, and terminal buildings at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He collaborated with three other men based outside the U.S.: Guyanese citizens Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur, and Trinidad native Kareem Ibrahim.
In planning for the attack, they had collected photos, videos, and satellite images of the airport, as well as Defreitas' recollections of his time as a cargo worker there. Defreitas, a Muslim convert, claimed he had seen military equipment, including missiles, loaded onto a plane for Israel while he was working at the airport, which increased his resentment of the United States. The men were seeking the help of the Islamic group Jamaat-al-Muslimeen in carrying out their attacks.
On June 1, 2007, Russell Defreitas was arrested in Brooklyn, NY. Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir, Abdel Nur were arrested in June 2007 in Trinidad, where they had travelled in an attempt to enlist the help of an extremist group in the plot, and were later extradited to the U.S. On June 28, 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York filed an indictment charging the four men with conspiracy to attack public transportation, conspiracy to destroy building by fire or explosive, conspiracy to attack aircraft and aircraft materials, conspiracy to destroy international airport facilities, conspiracy to attack mass transportation facility. Defreitas and Kadir were charged with an additional count of surveillance of mass transportation facility. Defreitas and Kadir were convicted on August 2, 2010. Both men were sentenced to life in prison, Kadir on December 15, 2010, and Defreitas on February 17, 2011. Nur pleaded guilty to providing material support to the terrorist plot on June 15, 2010, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on January 13, 2011. Ibrahim was convicted in May 2011, and sentenced to life in prison on January 13, 2012.
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August 1, 2007
San Jose, CA
Rahmat Abdhir
Support: Material
Al Qaeda,
Jemaah Islamiyah,
Abu Sayyaf Group
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U.S. citizen provides weapons, resources and information to terrorists
Rahmat Abdhir, a U.S. citizen of Malaysian descent, provided support to his brother, Zulkifli Abdhir, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
Rahmat Abdhir is charged with provided material support to his brother, Zulkifli Abdhir, the suspected leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the group blamed for the bombing of a Bali, Indonesia nightclub in 2002 that killed 202 people. Rahmat Abdhir gave his brother weapons, supplies, food, and information to help him evade capture. Prosecutors claim Rahmat Abdhir also provided bomb-making materials to Abu Sayyaf Group, a group in the Philippines linked to Al Qaeda. Zulkifli Abdhir is a fugitive believed to be in the Philippines.
On August 1, 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California filed an indictment charging Abdhir with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, providing material support to terrorists, multiple counts of contributing goods or services for the benefit of a specially designated global terrorist, making material false statements. The indictment also charged his brother, Zulkifli Abdhir. On August 3, 2007, federal authorities arrested Rahmat Abdhir. He pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists in March 2009, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August 2010.
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August 4, 2007
South Carolina
Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed
Plot: Bomb
None Confirmed
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University students found with bombs in car
Police officers stopped Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed and another man, both Egyptian nationals with student visas, for speeding on August 4, 2007. A search of the vehicle found pipes filled with low-grade explosives inside the car's trunk, along with a video Mohamed made explaining how to turn a remote-control car into a detonator. The two were arrested and later indicted for carrying explosives across state lines between South Carolina and Florida, where they were students at the University of South Florida. For the video, Mohamed was also accused of distributing information on explosives and weapons of mass destruction.
The passenger claimed he did not know the pipes were in the car and investigators did not find his fingerprints on them. While Mohamed admitted the pipes were his, he claimed they were sugar rockets.
On June 18, 2008, Mohamed pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists in exchange for the rest of the charges being dropped. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida sentenced Mohamed to 15 years in prison on December 18, 2008. The passenger was acquitted of all charges on April 3, 2009.
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September 8, 2007
Dearborn, MI
Houssein Zorkot
Plot: Firearm
None Confirmed
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Lebanese student brandishes AK-47 assault weapon in a Michigan park
After witnesses in Dearborn, MI, saw Houssein Zorkot, a student from Lebanon, walking through a park with an AK-47 assault weapon and dark clothes on September 8, 2007, they called the police. Zorkot attempted to flee the police in his car. Zorkot was arrested that day on charges including carrying a firearm with unlawful intent and having a loaded weapon in a motor vehicle.
Further investigation revealed Zorkot had a website where he declared Hezbollah was not a terrorist organization and said he was launching his own personal jihad. There was no indication, however, of his intent with the gun.
The Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan convicted Zorkot of carrying a firearm in a motor vehicle. He received two years of probation and was expelled from Wayne State University in Detroit, where he was studying medicine.
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September 20, 2007
Maryland
Saifullah Anjum Ranjha
Support: Material
Al Qaeda
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Pakistani man launders money to support Al Qaeda
Legal U.S. resident Saifullah Anjum Ranjha, from Pakistan, accepted $2.2 million from a government informant over the course of four years to launder abroad. The informant led Ranjha to believe a portion of the laundered money was funding Al Qaeda. Ranjha ran a money transfer business called Hamza Inc., where he abused the ancient practice of hawala exchanges, which originated in Southeast Asia. Hawala is a money exchange system based on personal relationships, which allows individuals to perform remittances, or sending money earned in one country to an individual in another, without leaving a paper trail or using a Western banking service.
Ranjha was indicted with 38 other people as part of a larger sting called "Operation Cash-Out," but he was the only person caught in the sting that was told the money was going to Al Qaeda.
Ranjha was indicted September 20, 2007, and he pleaded guilty August 22, 2008, to concealing terrorist financing and conspiring to launder money. The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland sentenced him to nine years and two months in prison on November 4, 2008.
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December 2007
MN, Somalia
Salah Osman Ahmed,
Khalid Mohamud Abshir,
Abdifatah Yusuf Isse,
Ahmed Ali Omar
Support: Personnel
Al Shabaab
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Minnesota residents join Al Shabaab in Somalia
In December 2007 a group of Minnesota residents traveled to Somalia to join Al Shabaab. The group included Salah Osman Ahmed and Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, both naturalized U.S. citizens from Somalia, and Ahmed Ali Omar and Khalid Mohamud Abshir, who are legal U.S. permanent residents from Somalia. Omar and Abshir were indicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota on August 20, 2009, for conspiracy to support terrorist groups, conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim and injure people outside the U.S., and other related charges.
Ahmed and Isse both pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorists, Isse on April 24, 2009, and Ahmed on July 28, 2009. Both are awaiting sentencing. The other two perpetrators, Omar and Abshir, are believed to still be abroad.
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