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| Mufid A. Elfgeeh |
(D&C) A Rochester man, supportive of "various terrorist groups," plotted to shoot and kill members of the U.S. armed forces returning from war to western New York, federal authorities allege.
The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force Saturday arrested Mufid A. Elfgeeh, 30, a Yemeni man, on charges of receiving and possessing an unregistered silencer, a criminal complaint shows.
Elfgeeh is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate judge Monday.
Using confidential informants, the FBI has been investigating Elfgeeh since early 2013, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Albert Zenner.
In the aftermath of the December terrorist attack on a mall in Kenya, Elfgeeh told an informant that, "I'm thinking about just go buy a big automatic gun from off the street ... and just put on a vest or whatever and just go around and start shooting," the affidavit states.
Elfgeeh indicated he already had a bulletproof vest.
Elfgeeh discussed buying weapons from the informant, saying "I don't have ... no plan whatsoever," the affidavit alleges. He said he wanted weapons "for personal use."
He also allegedly said he would "try to do as much as we could before we get, get captured," and that he wanted to do video messages after attacks.
In March, Elfgeeh apparently narrowed his plans to killing returning soldiers, authorities allege. He noted how a French-Algerian man had killed three French military members.
Elfgeeh told an informant, who'd indicated he could buy him firearms, that he could figure out who returning military members were from online searches.
Negotiations over possible weapons purchased continued into April and May. On May 31, the FBI gave the informant a "Walther PPK .32-caliber handgun with a functional silencer affixed to the barrel, a Glock 26, 9-millimeter handgun with a functional silencer affixed to the barrel, two boxes of .32-caliber ammunition, and two boxes 9-millimeter ammunition," the affidavit states.
Elfgeeh was arrested Saturday with the weapons, authorities say.
On his Twitter account, Elfgeeh expressed support for various terrorist organizations, including al Qaida, the affidavit states.
Records show that Elfgeeh operates a convenience store, MoJoe's Famous Pizza and Chicken, at 1193 N. Clinton Ave.
FBI officials confirmed that they searched an address on North Clinton Avenue Saturday evening but would not say where. Neighbors of MoJoe's said Monday morning that the store had been searched by police Saturday evening.
