Feds Charge Kansas Militia Members With Plotting to Bomb Somali Immigrants

They allegedly believed the attack, planned for November 9, would “wake people up.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson talks about the alleged bomb plot hatched by three militia members in Kansas.Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The Department of Justice announced today that it had prevented members of a Kansas militia group called the Crusaders from targeting Somali immigrants with homemade bombs. Three men were charged with domestic terrorism following an eight-month investigation in which a paid FBI informant gained access to their meetings, where they allegedly plotted attacks on Muslims. According to the criminal complaint, the men stockpiled firearms, ammunition—nearly 2,000 pounds of it—and explosive components. They reportedly believed the attack, planned for November 9, the day after the election, would “wake people up.”

Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright, and Patrick Stein allegedly contemplated murder, kidnapping, rape, and arson before settling on a different plan: They would obtain four vehicles, pack them with explosives, and set them off at the four corners of an apartment complex in Garden City, Kansas, that housed a mosque and 120 Somali refugees.

“If you’re a Muslim I’m going to enjoy shooting you in the head.”

According to the complaint, the group referred to Muslims as “cockroaches” and Stein yelled at Somali women in traditional dress, calling them “fucking raghead bitches.” The complaint also quotes Stein as telling the group, “If you’re a Muslim I’m going to enjoy shooting you in the head…When we go on operations there’s no leaving anyone behind, even if it’s a one-year old, I’m serious. I guarantee if I go on a mission those little fuckers are going bye-bye.”

The complaint contains many more examples of the men’s alleged violent, Islamophobic talk. In one recorded conversation, Stein said, “The only fucking way this country’s ever going to get turned around is it will be a bloodbath and it will be a nasty, messy motherfucker.” In a conference call, he told the group, “Make sure if you start using your bow on them cockroaches, make sure you dip them in pig’s blood before you shoot them.” Stein allegedly discussed 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the bomb used by Timothy McVeigh. Police said they seized “close to a metric ton” of ammunition at Allen’s residence. (A metric ton is about 2,200 pounds.)

“This is a militia group whose members support and espouse sovereign citizen, anti-government, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant extremist beliefs,” an affidavit by FBI Investigation Task Force Officer Chad B. Moore reads. Snapshots from a Facebook profiles that appear to belong to Stein and Allen showcase an array of conspiracy theories and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Allen, Stein, and Wright are charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. If convicted, they face life in prison.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate