A Baltimore man who is a recent convert to Islam has been charged with plotting to blow up a military recruiting office in Catonsville, Md., authorities said Wednesday, but the bomb was a fake provided by the FBI.
Antonio Martinez, 21, who changed his name to Muhammad Hussein when he converted, was charged with the attempted murder of federal employees and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. property. He faces life in prison if convicted.
Martinez was arrested Wednesday morning after he tried to remotely detonate what he believed to be explosives in a vehicle parked in the Armed Forces recruiting station parking lot, federal authorities said.
According to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Baltimore, Martinez wanted to fight jihad in the United States and specifically targeted the U.S. military because they were killing Muslims overseas.
He came to the FBI’s attention through public postings on his Facebook page, the affidavit said.
He posted statements calling for violence to stop the oppression of Muslims. On Oct. 8, a person identified as a confidential source told the FBI about the postings.
That began a series of recordedconversations that would eventually include an undercover FBI agent whom Martinez thought was from Afghanistan and would help him make a vehicle bomb and teach him how to detonate it.
Admit it… You knew what his name would be like long before you read it, didn’t you?
Now I can just wait for the explain-away maneuver. Was this an isolated incident? One man acting alone? A perversion of Islam?
I wait with bated breath.