Federal officials said Monday that they arrested a man who planned to bomb Cleveland’s July 4th celebrations.
48 year old Demetrius Nathaniel Pittts had expressed sympathy for the Al Qaeda and the desire to set off bombs during Cleveland’s July 4th celebrations.
Pitts was arrested Sunday after the FBI had been investigating Pitts for over a year. According to The New York Times, It all begun after Pitts had expressed anti-American views and the belief that all Muslims “should be prepared to fight”
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According to CNN, Pitts went by the name Abdur Raheem Rafeeq on Facebook. After being taken into custody Sunday, Pitts was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, said Stephen Anthony of the FBI.
source: North Olmsted Police Department, via Reuters
According to Anthony, Pitts is a US citizen and was radicalized in the United States.
An affidavit provided by the FBI said that Pitts met an undercover agent in June and begun to discuss his desire to join the Al Qaeda and potential acts of terror with the agent.
“What would hit them in the core?” Pitts asked in a secretly recorded conversation. He continued “Blow up in the, have a bomb to blow up the 4th of July parade.”
Pitts spoke about conducting surveillance in downtown Cleveland. The agent received a phone with photos and videos of potential bomb targets such as Voinovich Park and the US Coast Guard Station.
Pitts was scheduled to appear in court Monday.
In addition, Pitts talked about staging a later attack in Philadelphia and said he wanted to kill military members and military families as well as federal and local agents.
