The FBI arrested an Ohio man Wednesday who was planning to storm the U.S. Capitol and shoot as many government officials as he encountered, the Associated Press reports.
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Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, communicated his supported for ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, the jihadist group responsible for the insurgencies in Syria and Iraq. Cornell was arrested during an undercover FBI operation in Ohio, where he was handling firearms he presumably planned to use during his attack on Washington, D.C., according to AP.
John Barrios, an FBI agent, said that the public was never in danger during the sting operation.
An undercover FBI agent who was posing as a possible accomplice to Cornell’s plans alerted authorities to Cornell’s incendiary messages on an instant-messaging website.
“I believe we should meet up and make our own group in alliance with the Islamic State here and plan operations ourselves,” Cornell wrote.
Cornell and the undercover agent met in person in Cincinnati; discussed how they were going to Washington to conduct surveillance of the Capitol; strategized the attack—which included detonating “pipe bombs”; and finally met to buy the weapons needed for the attack. It was at that final meeting when Cornell was apprehended by FBI agents.
Cornell is also known as Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, AP reports.
Read more at the Associated Press.
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