It seems that every year right about the time of fourth of July the crazies come out in full force in their desire to ruin America’s holiday. Sadly, this year was no different as the FBI was able to foil the plans of Demetrius Pitts, 48 who planned to target an Independence Day parade in Cleaveland, Ohio. The FBI was able to identify Pitts who is also known as Abdur Raheem Rafeeq after he was radicalized to a militant branch of radical Islam.
This past Sunday, Pitts was placed in custody and charged in Federal Court. Justin Herdman, a United States Attorney had this to say about Pitts, “He talked about wanting to target people watching fireworks over downtown Cleveland.”
What we know:
Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts was arrested after being accused of planning a terrorist-style attack on July 4 in downtown Cleveland.
Now charged with attempted material support of a foreign terrorist organization.
He wanted to park a van packed with explosives. pic.twitter.com/Y3x7ukPs10
— Charisse Gibson (@OkayCharisse) July 2, 2018
Here is more from NBC News:
An Ohio man was charged Monday with plotting a Fourth of July terrorist bombing in Cleveland after a sting operation by the FBI, which gave him a bus pass so he could travel to scope out targets.
“I’m gonna be downtown when the thing go off,” Demetrius Pitts, 48, told an undercover FBI employee posing as an al Qaeda sympathizer, according to a federal complaint. “I’m gonna be somewhere ’cause I wanna see it go off.”
There’s no indication that Pitts could have carried off any attack on his own. The criminal complaint suggests he viewed his role as planning and surveillance and did not want to be involved in obtaining or building any explosives.But FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen Anthony said authorities had no choice but to investigate whether Pitts, an ex-con, was all talk.
“Law enforcement cannot stand by and wait for Mr. Pitts to make a violent attack,” he said.
Court documents say the FBI began paying attention to Pitts in 2015 when he sent a disturbing message to a local TV news program with a Facebook account registered under his alias, Abdur Raheem Rahfeeq.
Thank goodness he was arrested and taken off the streets, but one question remains, is it truly over?
