FBI: 'Jihad' prevented in Los Angeles
Court documents say trio planned shooting rampages
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Three men charged in a terror investigation were planning shooting rampages at Los Angeles-
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Levar H. Washington, 25, Gregory V. Patterson, 21, and Hammad R. Samana, 21 -- have pleaded not guilty.
According to an FBI affidavit unsealed recently, Washington told authorities he was the leader of a "council" of Muslims who planned to carry out operations in Southern California as part of a jihad, or holy war, against the United States.
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Prosecutors contend the men were working at the behest of Kevin James, a California State Prison, Sacramento, inmate who founded the radical group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS. Washington converted to Islam while imprisoned there for a previous robbery conviction.
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Washington, Patterson and Samana -- who attended the same Inglewood mosque -- allegedly conducted surveillance of military sites, synagogues, the Israeli Consulate and El Al airline facilities in the Los Angeles area as well as Internet research on Jewish holidays, prosecutors said.
..... the indictment refers to both military and Jewish targets.....................
Prosecutors suspect that Washington, Patterson and Samana robbed gas stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties to finance their plans. |
