Man charged with plotting shooting at a New York Jewish center on anniversary of Oct. 7 Hamas attack
NEW YORK — This week, a Pakistani man was arrested in Canada and charged with plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 that sparked the latest conflict in the Middle East, federal authorities said Friday.
According to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan attempted to travel from Canada, where he lives, to New York City with the “express purpose of slaughtering as many Jewish people as possible in the name of ISIS.”
The 20-year-old, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, was arrested on September 4 and charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the terrorist group, which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
“Jewish communities — like all communities in this country — should not have to fear being targeted by a hateful terrorist attack,” Garland said in a statement.
It was unclear whether Khan has a lawyer, where in Canada he is being held and when he might be brought to the U.S. to face the charges. There was no listing for the case in the online federal court system.
Edward Kim, a spokesman for the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office, which is handling the case, deferred to Canadian authorities, who did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
According to U.S. authorities, Khan began sharing ISIS propaganda videos and expressing support for the terror group in social media posts and communications with others through an encrypted messaging app last November.
In conversations with two undercover police officers, he said he was trying to set up a “real offline cell” of ISIS to carry out attacks on “Israeli Jewish Chabads” in America. Khan said he and another ISIS supporter in the U.S. needed AR-style assault rifles, ammunition and other materials, the Justice Department said.
Khan also gave details about how he would cross the border into Canada and said he was considering carrying out the attacks on the anniversary of Oct. 7 or Oct. 11, the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, authorities said.
On Aug. 20, he told undercover agents he had chosen New York as his target because of its large Jewish population and sent a photo of the specific area in a Jewish center where he planned to carry out the attack, the Justice Department said.
In his online posts, the Brooklyn location, which is not named in court documents, was described as “the world headquarters of ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews,” authorities said.
A spokesman for Chabad-Lubavitch, an influential Hasidic Jewish movement headquarters in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights sectiongave no comment on Friday.
Khan left for the U.S. in three separate vehicles, which also included other drivers and passengers, before he was apprehended near Ormstown, a town in Quebec province that is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the international border, federal authorities said.