A defense attorney in Michigan is pushing back against FBI allegations that his client and a group of youths arrested Friday were planning to carry out a violent attack over Halloween weekend.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced arrest of several persons On Friday he said they were planning a “possible terrorist attack”. He said that more detailed information will be given in this regard.
Amir McLeod, an attorney for a Dearborn, Michigan man who was also detained Saturday, said he had not received further details about the case, but told The Associated Press that, after reviewing the case, he does not expect any charges to be filed. He said he had concluded that no terrorist attack was being planned.
“I don’t know where this hysteria and this fear-mongering came from,” Macleod said.
“If these young people were on forums where they shouldn’t have been or on things of that nature, we’ll have to wait and see,” Macleod said. “But I don’t believe there was anything illegal about the activity they were doing.”
The investigation included discussions in online chat rooms with some of the detained individuals, two people briefed on the matter said. He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
He said the group of men – which McCleod described as an all-male group of US citizens who are “gamers” and aged 16 to 20 – discussed carrying out an attack around Halloween, referring to it as “Pumpkin Day”.
Investigators say the attack was inspired by the extremism of the Islamic State group. A person familiar with the investigation said it was unclear whether the group had the means to carry out the attack, but the Halloween context prompted FBI officials to make the arrests Friday.
The Associated Press contributed.
