MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) – A 23-year-old Milwaukee man has been arrested by the FBI in connection with an alleged plot to shoot up a Masonic temple.
According to the criminal complaint, Samy Mohamed Hamzeh had been under investigation since last September.
In October, investigators say Hamzeh was planning to travel to Jordan, enter the West Bank, and conduct an attack on Israeli soldiers and citizens living there.
The complaint states that Hamzeh abandoned those plans, and began focusing on conducting an attack on U.S. soil, specifically a Masonic temple in Milwaukee.
In a media release, acting United States Attorney Gregory Haanstad said:
“Samy Mohamed Hamzeh devised a detailed plan to commit a mass shooting intended to kill dozens of people. He also said that he wanted this mass shooting to be ‘known the world over’ and to ‘ignite’ broader clashes. It is difficult to calculate the injury and loss of life that was prevented by concerned citizens coming forward and by the tireless efforts of the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
Hamzeh engaged in several extensive conversations with 2 confidential sources in Arabic, according to the complaint. Those conversations were monitored, recorded and translated by FBI officials starting in October 2015.
It was earlier this month, the complaint states that Hamzeh settled on the Masonic temple in Milwaukee as his target for domestic terrorism.
On January 19, the two confidential sources and Hamzeh took a guided tour of the Masonic temple, during which they learned meeting schedules and where people would be located during meetings.
In a taped conversation upon leaving the temple, Hamzeh, discussed his plans with the sources. In that conversation, Hamzeh reaffirmed his intention to commit an armed attack on the temple and discussed in further detail how they would carry it out.
According to the criminal complaint, Hamzeh said they would need 2 machine guns so that they each (Hamzeh and one of the sources who didn’t have one) would have one, and also said they would need 3 silencers.
“We want two machine guns, you now have one, so we want two more, and we need three silencers, that’s it. Find out how much all together these will cost, and then we will march,” the complaint states. “We want two, like the machine gun you have….And we need silencers….Three, yes three silencers, and that’s it….each one has a weapon, each one has a silencer gun, the operation will be one hundred percent successful. I am telling you, to go without silencer gun, you will be exposed from the beginning.”
Hamzeh explains to the confidential sources that, when they executed the attack at the temple, 1 of the 3 of them would have to stay at the main door while the others went upstairs to kill the people who would be meeting there, according to the complaint.
“As long as the one on the door understands he has bigger responsibility than the others. For your information, he has to take care of everyone around him, the comers and the one that wants to go, he has to annihilate everyone, there is no one left, I mean when we go into a room, we will be killing everyone, that’s it, this is our duty, as for the one at the door, he must have 20/20 eye vision and always alert for all the traffic around him.”
Inside the criminal complaint also, Hamzeh explaining his objectives in committing this attack:
“I am telling you, if this hit is executed, it will be known all over the world. Sure, all over the world, all the Mujahedeen will be talking and they will be proud of us…such operations will increase in America, when they hear about it. The people will be scared and the operations will increase, and there will be problems all over, because more than one problem took place, and this will be the third problem, this will lead to people clashing with each other. This way we will be igniting it. I mean we are marching at the front of the war.”
Hamzeh went on to say, “They are all Masonic; they are playing with the world like a game, man, and we are like asses, we don’t know what is going on, these are the ones who are fighting, these are the ones that needs to be killed, not the Shi’iat, because these are the ones who are against us, these are the ones who are making living for us like hell. 30 is excellent. If I got out, after killing thirty people, I will be happy 100%…100% happy, because these 30 will terrify the world.”
The complaint states that Hamzeh made plans to buy the guns and silencers from two people who were undercover FBI agents. He met with them, along with the two confidential sources, on Monday (January 25th).
The agents, in that meeting, showed the weapons and a silencer to Hamzeh and told him they were capable of automatic fire. They also explained to him the functioning of the selector switch that allowed the weapons to fire automatically.
Hamzeh agreed to a price and paid it to the undercover agents, who then handed Hamzeh a bag containing two automatic weapons and a silencer. Hamzeh carried the bag to the vehicle in which he had traveled to the meeting, and he placed the bag in the trunk. FBI officials say Hamzeh was then arrested and has been charged with illegally possessing machine guns.
In a statement, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Robert Shields said:
“The arrest of Samy Mohamed Hamzeh is the result of a well-coordinated undercover law enforcement action, at no time was the public’s safety placed in jeopardy. I would like to commend the efforts of the Joint Terrorism Task Force which includes our local and state law enforcement partners in thwarting an attack that could have resulted in significant injury and /or loss of life.”
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