FBI arrests man, says he had contact with 2 Texas attackers

A North Carolina man was arrested on Thursday on a charge of conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State after he tried to buy an AK-47 assault rifle from an undercover officer and pledged allegiance to Islamic State on social media, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Hendricks is believed to have communicated with several other ISIL sympathizers as well, including the two men who were killed in May of 2015 after opening fire at the First Annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Garland, TX.

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Hendricks told another unnamed person his goal was to create a sleeper cell to be trained to carry out attacks in the United States.

Hendricks told the undercover agent that he slept with his AK-47 and kept it by the front door, investigators said. “The FBI and our many partners will continue to be vigilant and disrupt those who wish to commit terrorism on our soil”.

The unnamed man told authorities he suspected that Hendricks and “his brothers in Texas and Mexico” may have been responsible for an attempted terrorist attack in Garland, Texas.

Hendricks had allegedly expressed his commitment to “martyr” himself in the course of carrying out future attacks, telling the government informant of his desire to enter “jannah” or paradise. He said possible intended targets were military members and organizers of the “Draw Prophet Mohammad” contest. The undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent confirmed in the affidavit that his communications with Hendricks were similar to Al-Ghazi’s.

According to the complaint, Hendricks also connected the FBI employee with Simpson via social media, communicated with the FBI employee about the contest in Garland and directed the FBI employee to go to the contest. Shortly before the attack, the 31-year-old Simpson posted on his Twitter account: “May Allah accept us as mujahideen”, or holy warriors.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. If convicted, he faces a Congress-mandated maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

A North Carolina man has been arrested, accused of attempting to create an ISIL cell and trying to recruit an individual from Northeast Ohio.