A man apprehended in Canada on Sept. 4 after his alleged mass shooting plot on a New York City Jewish centre was found, the Department of Justice announced. The indicted, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, allegedly desired to use semiautomatic and automatic guns to kill people in the name of ISIS.
“Thanks to the investigative work of the FBI, and the quick action of our Canadian law enforcement partners, the defendant was taken into custody,”
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated in a statement.
“As I expressed to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety yesterday, we are deeply thankful to our Canadian partners for their critical law enforcement actions in this matter. Jewish communities — like all communities in this nation — should not have to fear that they will be targeted by hate-fueled terrorist aggression. The Justice Department will continue to operate closely with our domestic and international associates to aggressively counter the threat posed by ISIS and other terrorist organizations and their supporters,”
he stated.
Khan allegedly described his plan to a pair of undercover FBI agents and stated he planned to carry out the raids on or around Oct. 7 about Hamas’s attack on Israel, which killed hundreds of civilians while wounding thousands.
FBI Director Christopher Wray stated the bureau led the investigation.
“This investigation was led by the FBI, and I am proud of the terrific job by the FBI team and our partners to disrupt Khan’s plan,”
Wray stated.
“The FBI will persist in working closely with our partners to explore and hold accountable those who desire to commit violence in the name of ISIS or other terrorist organizations. Opposing terrorism remains the FBI’s top focus.”
In the criminal objection, it is detailed that Khan informed the officers that “New York is perfect to target Jews” because it has the
“largest Jewish residents In America,”
and, as such,
“even if we don’t strike an Event we could rack up easily a lot of Jews.”
Khan allegedly had a significant interest in ISIS, a terrorist organization. Detailed in the objection, Khan described a secret FBI source that he wanted to transmit money to ISIS-K, the offshoot of ISIS implicated in the Abbey Gate bombing that killed 13 U.S. soldiers during a disorderly evacuation of Afghanistan and wanted to journey to West Africa to join the region’s ISIS branch, ISWAP.
