BULLETIN: Terrorist-Inspired Attack In Rochester, N.Y., Thwarted, FBI Says
BULLETIN: (2nd Update 1:58 p.m. ET U.S.A.) The FBI has arrested a man from Rochester, N.Y., saying he planned to show his support for ISIS by carrying out a machete attack today at a bar/restaurant in the Rochester area. ISIS is a terrorist group also known as ISIL.
Today is New Year’s Eve. Bars and restaurants will be packed, a circumstance that suggests the suspect wanted to maximize the terror he would create.
On Dec. 29, Emanuel L. Lutchman, 25, went shopping at a Walmart store on Hudson Ave. in Rochester to acquire the equipment needed for the bloody attack, including two black ski masks, zip-ties, two knives, a machete, duct tape, ammonia and latex gloves, according to a chilling FBI affidavit that outlined the plan.
Lutchman’s shopping companion, however, was an FBI informant, according to the affidavit.
Prior to his arrest yesterday, according to the affidavit, Lutchman swore his allegiance on video to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and claimed credit for the attack.
“The FBI thwarted Emanuel Lutchman’s intent to kill civilians on New Year’s Eve,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Cohen of the Buffalo division. “The FBI remains concerned about people overseas who use the Internet to inspire people in the United States to commit acts of violence where they live.”
Lutchman allegedly told an FBI informant that he’d been in contact with an “Overseas Individual” who’d identified himself as an ISIS “brother.” This individual, according to the affidavit, allegedly told Lutchman that being with ISIS was “dream come true.”
Lutchman, in December, “expressed his hatred for everything in America” and the supposed infidels here and his desire to go to Syria to join ISIS, according to the affidavit.
Also in December, Lutchman talked about “doing assassinations” and using “firearms” and a “pressure-cooker bomb,” according to the affidavit.
“I am ready to lose my family” to live under the ISIS caliphate, Lutchman allegedly said. At one point, according to the affidavit, he pointed out the bar/restaurant as a potential attack target and said “he knew someone with a machete and that his wife has a dagger.”
The zip-ties were needed in case they “kidnap[ped] somebody,” Lutchman allegedly said.
After the Walmart shopping trip, Lutchman allegedly said, “It’s going to get real after this. “It’s just you, me and the Lord. We gotta do this, we gotta do this precise.”
Continuing, Lutchman allegedly said, “If we grab somebody, they can’t live. They may identify the vehicle. They can’t live.”
He has been charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
“This New Year’s Eve prosecution underscores the threat of ISIL even in upstate New York but demonstrates our determination to immediately stop any who would cause harm in its name,” said U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. of the Western District of New York.
Rochester, in the western section of the state, has a population of about 210,000 and is New York’s third-largest city, behind New York City and Buffalo. Rochester is about the same size as San Bernardino, Calif., which was subjected to a terrorist attack on Dec. 2 that killed 14 people.
Read the statement on the Lutchman arrest by the Justice Department.
Read the FBI affidavit.
Statement from New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo:
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“The arrest of Emanuel Lutchman is an important reminder of the new normal of global terrorism. Today law enforcement did their job well – but the challenges we face have never been greater, and it is incumbent on every citizen to be diligent and responsible. I want to reassure all New Yorkers and our state’s visitors that we are taking every precaution to keep people safe, and are in regular contact with our partners in both the federal government and local communities, statewide. I commend the Department of Justice as well as the FBI’s Rochester area Joint Terrorism Task Force, including the State Police, for their hard work and diligence in preventing this possible attack.”
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Source: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/statement-governor-andrew-m-cuomo-arrest-rochester-man-attempting-support-isil
Patrick
Suspect possibly radicalized in state prison. Also from Gov. Cuomo:
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“But there is also a new normal when it comes to terrorism. I am afraid that you are going to see this more and more Virginia. You know the internet has opened a portal for hate coming from the Middle East and at one time, it was just there, but one of the downsides of the internet is that it has expedited and facilitated that hate coming right across the oceans and then people access it here. This person became a Muslim, we believe, in state prison. He was in Attica* for robbery at one point, he served time in Attica and became a Muslim, went out became radicalized on the internet and became the proponent of one of these terrorist groups, the ISIL groups, who have pledged allegiance to ISIL and had a specific plan to assassinate people and they talked about it and planned and this is in Rochester. So, its San Bernardino California, its Rochester, New York, which means it can be anywhere and anytime. The challenges of law enforcement have never been greater and it is incumbent upon every citizen to be diligent and responsible, because again, it can be anywhere and anytime.”
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Source: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/rush-transcript-governor-cuomo-calls-time-warner-cable-news-rochester-following-arrest-emanue-0
Patrick