A former National Guard soldier has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State.
Mohamed Jalloh, 26, of Sterling, Va., was also contemplating a Fort Hood-style attack against the United States military, according to court documents made public Tuesday.
Jalloh, a former member of the Army National Guard, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Sierra Leone. He was arrested Sunday.
Court records show Jalloh quit the military after hearing lectures from radical lecturer and al Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2011.
According to a court affidavit detailing the three month-long investigation, Jalloh said he was thinking of carrying out an attack similar to the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and more than 30 others injured. The shooter was Nidal Hassan, a U.S. Army major who reportedly had contact with al-Awlaki before the attack. He was sentenced to death and is currently incarcerated at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The investigation into Jalloh began in March when an unidentified member of the Islamic State brokered an introduction between Jalloh and a government informant. However, Jalloh had been communicating with the Islamic State member — who is now dead — before he had ever interacted with the informant. Jalloh allegedly met the Islamic State member on a trip to Africa in early 2016.
According to the affidavit, Jalloh told the informant in April he had been thinking of carrying out an attack like the Fort Hood attack. When asked to explain, Jalloh told the informant, “Nidal Hasan type of things.”
Later in April, he told the informant that the Islamic State asked him if he wanted to participate in an attack. He allegedly told the Islamic State representative that “I really want to but I don’t want to give my word and not fulfill it.”
A month later, he attempted to give a $500 donation to the Islamic State, but the money actually went to an account controlled by the FBI.
In June, the affidavit says, Jalloh drove to the Charlotte, N.C., area with another unidentified person looking for weapons to buy.
Jalloh then allegedly visited a gun shop in Chantilly, Va., on July 1 to buy a Bushmaster AR-15, but was turned down because he didn’t have proper paperwork. The next day, he bought and test-fired a Stag Arms SA1 5.56 caliber rifle. The gun was rendered inoperable before he left the store, however, and he was arrested days later.
Jalloh is expected to make his initial appearance Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Alexandria.
