AKIPRESS.COM - A U.S. Army veteran who wanted revenge for attacks on Muslims around the globe was planning to detonate a bomb at a Long Beach rally this past weekend before he was intercepted by law enforcement officials, LA Times reports citing authorities.
Mark Steven Domingo, 26, was arrested Friday night after he took delivery of what he thought was an improvised explosive device from an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a bomb-maker, officials said.
He was charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists and, if convicted, could face up to 15 years in prison.
Domingo considered “various attacks — including targeting Jews, churches and police officers” before he decided “to detonate an IED at a rally scheduled to take place in Long Beach this past weekend.” As part of the plot, Domingo asked his confederate to find a bomb-maker, and last week he purchased several hundred nails to be used as shrapnel inside the IED.
John C. Demers, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s national security division, said Domingo wanted to use improvised explosive devices that “would make the bombs even more deadly to the victims he targeted.”
“His arrest today mitigates the threat he posed to others in the Los Angeles community,” Demers said.