Author: Zachary Reyes
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Three men in Kansas have been charged with plotting a bomb attack targeting local Somali immigrants.
People stand outside the allegedly targeted apartment complex in Garden City, Kansas, on Friday.
Curtis Allen, 49, Gavin Wright, 49, and Patrick Stein, 47, were charged Friday with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson talks about the FBI's roll in stopping a bomb plot.
A confidential source attended meetings of The Crusaders and told the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the men's plans, the DOJ said.
Dalma Ali Warsame, a 34-year-old Somalian, said Somalia had no government "and no safety", which was why he came to the U.S. Now he has a wife and two daughters, ages 1 and 3, who are frightened, as is he.
But Police Chief Michael Utz says he wants all Garden City residents to know they are safe. "Why are we? They're taking our jobs, plus they're Muslim, '" he said.
The complaint says the men are members of a small militia group calling itself "the Crusaders", and that its members espouse sovereign citizen, anti-government, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant extremist beliefs.
Garden City Mayor Chris Law said in a statement that he was shocked by the planned attack, and Birky called it "crazy". Birzer scheduled detention hearings for Stein and Wright for Friday and for Allen next Monday.
Stein claimed, among other things, that the Muslim Brotherhood had infiltrated the USA government, a common charge from far-right figures including Trump advisers like Roger Stone and Michele Bachmann. 14, 2016 booking photo provided by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office in Wichita, Kan., shows Patrick Eugene Stein.
About 120 Somali immigrants live in the complex, CNN affiliate KWCH reported and acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said one of the apartment units served as a mosque.
The men, who were arrested in Liberal on Friday morning, performed surveillance of the apartment building and prepared a manifesto, Beall said.
This Oct. 14, 2016 photo provided by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office in Wichita, Kan., shows Gavin Wright. Wright is one of three members of a Kansas militia group were charged Friday Oct. 14, 2016, with.
This Oct. 14, 2016 photo provided by the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office in Wichita, Kan., shows Curtis Allen. Stein took the source to the apartment building the men allegedly planned to bomb and said he would provide ammonium nitrate for the bomb and contribute $200 to $300 for other materials, the DOJ said.
The three defendants do not yet have an attorney and will be arraigned on the charges on Monday, said a spokesman for Beall. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said Curtis Allen, Stein and Gavin Wright are members of a group calling itself the Kansas Security Force.