DOJ: Michigan terror suspects targeted LGBTQ+ people, trained at gun ranges
Two Michigan men are accused of supplying weapons for and planning an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack targeting suburban Detroit nightlife around Halloween, something the Department of Justice says they referred to as “pumpkin day.” The group was allegedly planning an attack similar to a 2015 mass shooting in Paris that killed 130 people.
An unsealed 72-page criminal complaint against Dearborn residents Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, both 20, alleges the duo had purchased several guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the weeks leading up to Halloween. The complaint says the group communicated on encrypted messaging apps and social media platforms “to share extremist and ISIS-related materials that encourage attacks similar to what they planned”
A raid of the two men’s Dearborn home resulted in the seizure of three AR-15 style rifles, two shotguns, four handguns and more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, the complaint states. Authorities also found more tactical gear and firearm accessories in a nearby storage unit that Ali had rented.
The two were arraigned in a Michigan federal district court on Monday and are scheduled to appear again on Nov. 10, according to the New York Post.
LGBTQ+ community targeted
The complaint alleges Ali and another unnamed person would carry out the attacks on bars and clubs in the town of Ferndale. The DOJ said in the complaint that several bars in the suburban town “intentionally attract members of the LGBTQ+ community.”
The complaint said one of the co-conspirators, labeled “Person 1,” had been scouting locations in the Ferndale area, with one intercepted message stating, “[the attack is] probably going to be at like a club, a disco.”
Range time
The complaint describes how federal law enforcement had tracked the group for weeks leading up to their arrest before any attacks could unfold. Beyond securing records of all of the firearms and ammunition the group had purchased, federal authorities secured security footage of Ali and Mahmoud going to a Belleville, Michigan, gun range to practice shooting on multiple occasions.
On Sept. 25, the affidavit shows Ali and another in their group each brought an AR-15 style rifle to Downriver Guns in Belleville and used the gun range for an hour. Ali then paid for another hour of range time on Oct. 8 for himself and Mahmoud.
Ali, Mahmoud and another visited the same location again on Oct. 16 and paid for more ammunition and a single lane.
The complaint states that another of the group contacted other gun ranges on the same day, eventually going to Downriver Guns in Brownstown Township, Michigan, with three other individuals.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
