© Pinellas County Sheriff's OfficeMuhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, 23, is charged with attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, according to a federal criminal complaint. He is being held in the Pinellas County Jail at the request of federal agents.
A Tampa man faces federal charges after FBI agents said he gave "material support" to the Islamic State and may have scouted Honeymoon Island State Park for a possible attack.
Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, 23, is charged with attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Al-Azhari was arrested Sunday in a federal sting operation in which he
acquired weapons from an FBI informant with whom he'd shared his desires to carry out a mass shooting on behalf of a terror group, according to a criminal complaint.
The document refers to the terror group as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS.
Al-Azhari, a U.S. citizen,
served three years in prison in Saudi Arabia after being convicted in 2015 of attempting to join a terrorist organization there while traveling to Syria to fight against the Syrian government, according to the complaint. In late 2018, he returned to the U.S. — first to California, where his grandmother lives, and then to Tampa.
He spent much of this spring trying to illegally acquire guns from an undercover FBI agent posing as an eBay seller, the complaint said. Al-Azhari called off the deal
after Tampa police arrested him for trying to carry a pistol into a Home Depot. The complaint goes on to say that Al-Azhari worked at a Tampa Home Depot, though it doesn't specify which one.
Comment: Al-Azhari reportedly told the informant the
following:
An FBI affidavit says Al-Azhari was recorded as expressing admiration for Omar Mateen, the deceased shooter at the Orlando Pulse nightclub massacre in 2016, and even drove there to scope out the location. In a conversation with a confidential informant, the FBI says, Al-Azhari said "that's how I want to die, to be honest."
The informant then asked how many people Al-Azhari wanted to kill.
"I don't want to take four or five, no. I want to take at least 50," Al-Azhari replied on the recording, according to the affidavit. "You know like, brother Omar Mateen in Orlando did. He took 49 with him."
...
"Know America. Today is your emergency. Today we kill from you guys like you killed from us," he is overheard saying, according to the affidavit. "This is a revenge for Muslims."
His lawyer had
this to say - important to keep in mind given the history of FBI sting operations resulting in the capture of inept terrorist-wannabes with no actual connections to terrorist groups:
Samuel Landes, the attorney representing Al-Azhari issued this statement:
"The government's charges in this case unfairly attempt to portray this United States citizen as a terrorist. The allegations misunderstand both the law and the evidence. I'm thankful that in this country everyone enjoys a presumption of innocence, and I look forward to Mr. Al-Azhari's day in court before a jury of his peers."
That said, by all indications, Al-Azhari seems to be the kind of low life who
would want to join ISIS, but is just too incompetent to actually do so.
Comment: Al-Azhari reportedly told the informant the following: His lawyer had this to say - important to keep in mind given the history of FBI sting operations resulting in the capture of inept terrorist-wannabes with no actual connections to terrorist groups: That said, by all indications, Al-Azhari seems to be the kind of low life who would want to join ISIS, but is just too incompetent to actually do so.