Ex-National Guardsman Charged with Plotting ISIS Attack

A former member of the Army National Guard living in Virginia is accused of trying to buy guns in Charlotte for a domestic terrorist attack on a military base.

Mohamed Jalloh, a Sierra Leone native, was arrested Sunday and charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to papers filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to court documents and court proceedings, in March 2016, a now-deceased member of ISIS brokered an introduction between Jalloh and an individual in the United States who actually was an FBI confidential human source (CHS).  The ISIS member was actively plotting an attack in the United States and believed Jalloh and the CHS would help carry it out.

Jalloh met with the CHS earlier in 2016–once in April and once in May. In their April meeting, Jalloh told the CHS he was a former member of the National Guard, but quit after listening to online lectures by Anwar al-Aulaqi, a deceased leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Jalloh also revealed he recently took a six-month trip to Africa where he met with ISIS members.

Jalloh also told the CHS he often thought about carrying out an attack similar to the November Ft. Hood, Texas attack in 2009.

Jalloh traveled to North Carolina in June 2016 to buy firearms, but his multiple attempts were unsuccessful. Jalloh then visited a gun dealer in northern Virginia and purchased a Stag Arms assault rifle.

Unbeknownst to Jalloh, the rifle was rendered inoperable before he left the dealership with the weapon. 

“They wanted to catch him in the act, so they said to go through with the purchase,” said Earl Curtis, the store’s owner.

Curtis then said Jalloh returned that evening and bought a different assault rifle for about $1,200. He test-fired the weapon at the range, after which an employee took the gun in the back and disabled it before returning it to Jalloh.

Jalloh was arrested the following day and the FBI seized the rifle.