A 20-year-old Army recruit was arrested Friday for attempting to set off a car bomb near a Kansas military base and charged with trying to provide material support to the Islamic State.
John Booker Jr., 20, was arrested just as he was making final preparations to detonate a bomb that would have targeted fellow soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, a military base near Manhattan, Kansas, Department of Justice officials said.
Mr. Booker was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, one count of attempting to damage property by means of an explosive, and one count of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
“As alleged in the complaint, John Booker attempted to attack U.S. military personnel on U.S. soil purportedly in the name of ISIL,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin in a statement. “Protecting American lives by identifying and bringing to justice those who wish to harm U.S. citizens remains the National Security Division’s number one priority.”
The FBI had been following Mr. Booker since March 2014 after he posted Facebook messages that read: “Getting ready to be killed in jihad is a HUGE adrenaline rush!! I am so nervous. NOT because I’m scared to die but I am eager to meet my lord.”
Mr. Booker, who had enlisted in the Army a month prior, told the FBI when they questioned him about his Facebook postings that had enlisted “with the intent to commit an insider attack against American soldier,” according to court documents.
He was subsequently rejected by the Army, but the FBI kept tracking him.
Since October, Mr. Booker had been in contact with an undercover agent and had started divulged some of his ideas to an FBI confidential source. Mr. Booker told the source in early February that he wanted to produce a propaganda video for the Islamic State with a military base or notable landmark in the background.
Mr. Booker said he wanted to make the video to scare Americans, “warn them to get their family and friends to quit the military” and essentially tell the people that “we will be coming after American soldiers in the streets … we will be picking them off one by one,” according to court documents.
Last month, the undercover FBI agent introduced Mr. Booker to another undercover agent posing as a high-ranking sheik who was planning terror attacks against the U.S. Mr. Booker told the agents he had studied suicide bombings and was interested in using a truck bomb to carry out the terror attack, according to court documents.
On March 10 he made the propaganda video he had been discussing near Marshall Army Airfield at Fort Riley with the two undercover agents, whom he told of his intent to detonate the bomb on Friday. He then went about making a second video inside the storage unit in front of a stack of explosive materials, according to court documents.
“This message is to you America,” he said in the video. “You sit in your homes and you think this war is just over in Iraq. … Wallahi, we today we will bring the Islamic State straight to your doorstep. You think this is just a game, Wallahi when this bomb blows up and kills as many kuffar as possible, maybe then you’ll realize it.”
On Friday, Mr. Booker and the undercover agent met with the agent posing as the sheik for what was supposed to be the last time. Court documents show that sheik brought with him a van containing the bomb and showed Mr. Booker how to arm the device. Mr. Booker then drove the van to what he believed to be a little-used utility gate near Fort Riley.
Federal authorities swooped in and apprehended Mr. Booker just as he was at the gate “making final connections to arm” the bomb, court documents show. He was taken into custody without incident.
“I want to assure the public there was never any breach of Fort Riley Military Base,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson. “Recently the Command Staff at Fort Riley has been working hand-in-hand with law enforcement to ensure the utmost security and protection for the men and women who serve our country, and the surrounding community that supports the base.”
Mr. Booker is scheduled appear Friday in U.S. District Court in Topeka. The Federal Public Defender’s Office has been tapped to represent him. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence.
• Maggie Ybarra can be reached at mybarra@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.