TerrorismFBI thwarts terrorist plot in Los Angeles

Published 29 April 2019

The FBI Monday said the agency had foiled a domestic terror plot by an American military veteran, who was aiming to attack “multiple targets” in Southern California, including Huntington Beach, the port of Long Beach, and the Santa Monica Pier. The suspect, identified as 26-year old Mark Steven Domingo of Reseda, California, is a recent convert to Islam. He said he was planning the attack in retribution for the attacks on mosques in New Zealand.

Santa Monica Pier, one target of a terrorist attack // Source: commons.wikimedia.org

The FBI Monday said the agency had foiled a domestic terror plot by an American military veteran, who was aiming to attack “multiple targets” in Southern California, including Huntington Beach, the port of Long Beach, and the Santa Monica Pier.

The suspect, identified as 26-year old Mark Steven Domingo of Reseda, California, was planning the attack in retribution for the attacks on mosques in New Zealand. He spoke of planning an attack similar to the massacre in Las Vegas, aiming to kill hundreds of people. He said he was targeting white nationalists, Jews, churches, and military bases, according to court documents filed Monday.

The New York Times reports that the suspect was arrested Friday night after he received what he thought was a live bomb, but which was an inert explosive device delivered by an undercover law enforcement officer as part of an investigation by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Domingo “planned and took steps to manufacture and use a weapon of mass destruction in order to commit mass murder,” according to the criminal complaint filed Monday.

Last week, Mr. Domingo “purchased several hundred nails” meant to be used as shrapnel inside an explosive device, the complaint said. The person Domingo believed was a collaborator was an undercover law enforcement officer.

Domingo was an active duty Army infantryman who had been deployed to Afghanistan from September 2012 to January 2013. The FBI reviewed many online posts in which Domingo expressed his enthusiastic support for “violent jihad” and his desire to attack the Los Angeles area.

On 3 March, Domingo posted “America needs another Vegas event,” a reference to the massacre in 2017, “something to kick off civil unrest.” Later that month he wrote in a post that “there must be retribution” for the attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Law enforcement said Domingo had three firearms registered to him, including two semiautomatic firearms and a bolt-action rifle. He was a recent convert to Islam, the papers filed in court said, and expressed support for the activities of the Islamic State.

Over several weeks the FBI informant met with Domingo and discussed his detailed plans to carry out an attack.

“This investigation successfully disrupted a very real threat posed by a trained combat soldier who repeatedly stated he wanted to cause the maximum number of casualties,” said the United States attorney for the Central District of California, Nick Hanna. “Protecting Americans from terror attacks is the No. 1 priority of the Justice Department, and anyone who plots to use a weapon of mass destruction will be held to account.”