A 21-year-old Baltimore man faces charges of attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction after authorities say he tried to detonate what he thought was a bomb at a military recruitment center along Route 40 in Catonsville. A judge has ordered him held without bond until next week.
At a hearing Wednesday afternoon Antonio Martinez, also known as Muhammad Hussain, was ordered detained until another hearing Monday.
Court documents filed Wednesday say Martinez told an FBI source in October that he was seeking to attack and kill military personnel.
In conversations through his Facebook account, Martinez allegedly told the source that all he thinks about is jihad.
On Facebook, Martinez wrote, “if the military continues to kill Muslims…..they would need to expand their operation by killing U.S. Army personnel where they live…..Jihad is not only in Afghanistan or Pakistan but also in the United States.”
The documents say Martinez talked with the source about shooting people inside the center and burning the building. He was introduced to an FBI agent who along with the source provided him with a phony bomb in a van.
In the criminal complaint, Martinez allegedly tried to recruit at least three people to help him in the bombing plot. Proseuctors say two of those people refused. A third tried to talk Martinez out of it. A fourth contacted the FBI.
He told a judge that he could not afford an attorney and was assigned a pubic defender. Martinez said he works in construction and is married and that he understood the charges against him.
After the hearing, Joseph Balter, the public defender assigned to represent him, cautioned against a rush to judgment, saying it’s very early in the case.
“We really hope that nobody jumps to any judgements about the guilt of this client or any other issue in this case,” Balter told reporters after the hearing.
After the hearing Balter spoke to an older man about Martinez. The man would not identify himself or his relationship to Martinez when approached by WBAL News.
“I don’t really know what happened. I just want to leave,” the man told WBAL News as he ran down a courthouse hallway.
WBAL’s Angela Jackson reports the Armed Forces Career Center is located along Route 40 in Catonsville in the Catonsville Plaza Shopping Center. It is located in the former location of a Blockbuster video store. Some folks in near-by businesses tell WBAL News the man was arrested at 9:30 am this morning. People who work near the shopping center say the recruiting center is very busy on Friday and Saturday’s when training sessions are often held.
WBAL’s Jayne Miller says the suspect is from Nicaragua and recently converted to Islam.
CLICK HERE to see video of Jayne Miller’s report http://www.wbaltv.com/video/26065290/detail.html
This is a fairly recent investigation that started in September
The case is similar to one in Portland, Ore., where authorities said they arrested a Somali-born teenager the day after Thanksgiving when he used a cell phone to try to detonate what he thought were explosives in a van. He intended to bomb a crowded downtown Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, but the people he had been communicating with about the plot were in fact FBI agents.
After that case became public, Martinez called the FBI source he had been working with on the Maryland bomb plot, according to court documents, which said he seemed worried about another person that source had introduced him to. The person was an undercover FBI agent.
“I’m not falling for no b.s.,” court documents quote him as saying.
After meeting with the source, however, Martinez decided to continue with the plot, according to the court documents. On Wednesday he drove an SUV with the dummy bomb to the recruiting center and parked outside the building, authorities said. When he attempted to detonate the device, he was arrested.
Sources say the suspect had been “mouthing off” to friends and wanted to “retaliate against the military for the wars.”
The source also says the FBI believes that Hussein acted alone in this plot. He had been the target of an investigation since October.
“We believe with this we have completely eliminated the threat that this individual posed,” FBI Special Agent Rick McFeely told WBAL News.
White House: Bomb Plot Shows Need For Vigilance
The White House says President Barack Obama was informed about the bomb plot before a suspect’s arrest and says the president was assured the public was not endangered.
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro says the arrest underscores the need for vigilance against terrorism. He said the case illustrates why the Obama administration is focused on addressing “domestic radicalization.”
From White House spokesman Nick Shapiro:
“The President was informed about the operation prior to the arrest and he was assured that the FBI was in full control of the operation and that the public was not endangered. This arrest underscores the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism here and abroad and why we have been focusing on addressing the challenge posed by domestic radicalization. The President once again thanks the FBI, Department of Justice, and the rest of our law enforcement, intelligence and Homeland Security professionals who continue to keep us safe and serve with extraordinary skill and with the commitment that their enormous responsibilities demand.”
Senator Barbara Mikulski issued the following statement today:
“Congratulations to the men and women of the FBI’s Baltimore field office. I’m so proud of their work in foiling a reported bomb plot in Baltimore County. This is the second time in as many weeks the FBI has stopped a terrorist plot to harm Americans here at home. I’m deeply troubled that an attack was being planned on a military recruitment center to harm the young men and women who sacrifice so much for our country. But I’m grateful for the FBI’s professionalism and skill in keeping us safe.”
http://www.wbal.com/absolutenm/templates/story.aspx?articleid=63692&zoneid=40
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