The FBI announced on Friday that it arrested California tow truck driver Everitt Aaron Jameson for plotting a Christmas terror attack on Pier 39 in San Francisco.
In statements to undercover informants, Jameson outlined a plan that would have involved running civilians down with his truck, deploying improvised explosives, and using his skills as a Marine sharpshooter to increase the body count. A note he evidently intended for publication after the attack swore allegiance to ISIS and cited President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as a reason for his actions.
FBI documents state that Jameson planned to use his tow truck for a mass-casualty attack on Pier 39 because he “had been there before and knew it was a heavily crowded area.” He reportedly said Christmas would be “the perfect day to commit the attack.”
“I’m glad to know we Muslims are finally hitting back. Allahu Akbar! The kuffar deserve everything and more [for] the lives they have taken,” he allegedly told an FBI informant after the November 2 truck jihad attack in New York City, which killed eight people.
“Allahu akbar! It says he was one of us. May Allah grant him Jannah firtuidus Amin,” he said of New York City truck terrorist Sayfullo Saipov, indicating that he hoped Saipov would enter paradise as a reward for attacking the infidels.
Jameson also reportedly spoke approvingly of the attack on a Christmas party by a husband-and-wife jihadi team in San Bernardino in December 2015 and suggested his operation would include vehicles, explosives, and firearms. He told an undercover agent that America “needed another attack like New York or San Bernardino.”
Communicating with FBI assets he believed were representatives of the Islamic State, Jameson advertised himself as a military veteran and offered to put his skills at the service of the caliphate. In a meeting with undercover informants, he added that he was “well versed” in the Anarchist Cookbook, a manual for making bombs and other implements of terrorism. He also offered financial assistance to ISIS, offered to travel to Syria if needed, and said he was ready to die for “the cause.” He demonstrated fluency in spoken Arabic during a telephone call.
“I was a soldier in the kuffar army before I reverted,” he said. “I have been trained in combat and things of war. Inshallah, anything of that nature, as well as funding. Anything for Allah.”
The FBI confirmed that Jameson attended U.S. Marine Corps basic training and earned a “sharpshooter” rifle qualification. He was eventually discharged for “fraudulent enlistment,” apparently because he failed to disclose a history of asthma to the recruiters.
When the undercover FBI operatives asked what he needed for the attack, Jameson outlined an ambitious plan involving M-16 and/or AK-47 rifles, timers, remote detonators, and pipe bomb materials.
When a search warrant was executed at Jameson’s residence in Modesto, a number of pistols, rifles, and ammunition were confiscated, along with his last will and testament and a handwritten letter he signed as “Abdallah abu Everitt ibn Gordon al-Amriki.” The letter was evidently meant to be published after he carried out his terror attack. It reads:
I, Abdallah adu Everitt ibn Gordon, have committed these acts upon the Kuffar, in the name of Dar al Islam, Allahu Akbar! You all have brought this upon yourselves. There is no innocent Kuffar! Each and every Kuffar in this Nationalistic, Godless society has a hand in this. You’ve allowed Donald J. Trump to give away Al Quds to the Jews. Both You and he are wrong, it belongs to the Muslemeen. We have penetrated and infiltrated your disgusting country. These Acts will continue until the Lions of Islam overtake you. Turn to Allah, make tawbah and fight with us, the soldiers who fight in the day and the night. Allah SWT is most forgiving. I am not. Long live Isil, Long Live Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Allahu akbar!
Dar al Islam means the “house of Islam.” Kuffar is a derogatory term for non-Muslims. Al Quds is an Arabic name for Jerusalem. Muslemeen is another way of saying “Muslim” Tawbah means “repent.” Allah SWT is a shorthand way of saying “Allah the most glorious and exalted.” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the “caliph” or leader of the Islamic State.
According to the FBI, Jameson was a voracious consumer of Islamic State propaganda online, and wrote numerous “social media posts that are supportive of terrorism.”
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