A man from Toledo, Ohio was indicted January 29 for allegedly planning a mass synagogue shooting in the name of ISIS. For six months prior to his arrest, Clarion Project’s Clarion Intelligence Network alerted law-enforcement agencies to Damon Joseph, 21.
Federal authorities charged Joseph with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, attempting to commit a hate crime and possessing firearms in furtherance of a crime a violence.
Joseph, 21, was arrested by the FBI on December 7, 2018 and charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization after taking possession of two rifles he believed were bought for him for the attack, KEPRtv.com reported.
At the time of Joseph’s arrest U.S. Atorney Justin E. Herdman said:
“This man spent months planning a violent terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS here in the United States, and eventually targeted a Jewish synagogue in the Toledo area. The charges describe a calculated man fueled by an ideology of hatred and intent on killing innocent people. The FBI, our police and Justice Department employees are to be credited for working to stop the defendant before he could act.”
Authorities in the case say they were first alerted to Joseph through his social media posts. He began by watching ISIS propaganda. A few short months later, he was making his own videos to inspire others to plan attacks.
After the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October in which 11 people were killed and seven injured, Joseph said that Jewish people are evil and “they got what was coming to them.”
He spoke to an undercover agent about a copycat attack, of which he drafted a plan and identified two synagogues as targets. He said he wanted to inflict mass casualties, “kill a rabbi” and attack any law enforcement officers responding to the attack, according to investigators.
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