FBI says it broke up a plan to attack an Army site in suburban Detroit

DETROIT (AP)—A 19-year-old man was arrested after spending months planning an attack on a US Army site in suburban Detroit, authorities said Wednesday.

The man was planning a mass shooting at the Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command in Warren, commonly known as the Detroit Arsenal, on behalf of the Islamic State group, the US Attorney’s Office said.

But he didn’t know that he had been scheming with two undercover FBI employees, who recorded audio and video images of their meetings with him, including handwritten diagrams of the site, referred to by the Army as TACOM, authorities said.

The plan involved sending one of the undercover agents into TACOM with Molotov cocktails and assault-style weapons, according to a court filing.

“Helping ISIS or any other terrorist organization prepare or carry out acts of violence is not only a reprehensible crime — it is a threat to our entire nation and way of life,” US Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said.

The man, who was a recent member of the Michigan Army National Guard, was arrested Tuesday shortly after launching a drone for a final look before an attack, the FBI said in a court filing.

He will make an appearance Wednesday in federal court in Detroit on charges of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device.

The man was under investigation about a year ago when he told an undercover FBI employee about a “longstanding desire to engage in violent jihad,” or war, either overseas or in the US, the FBI said.

Authorities last July performed a secret search of his phone, which he had turned over to National Guard personnel before boarding a military aircraft. The FBI said it found references to jihad and images of Islamic State flags.