Suspect Accused of Plotting Islamic Terror Attack to Plow Down US Crowds of People

Federal officials say they have a suspect in custody, accused of plotting to drive a stolen truck into crowds of people. The Justice Department says 28-year-old Rondell Henry was inspired online by the radical Islamic group ISIS to commit mass murder.

On March 26, Henry allegedly stole a U-Haul truck and drove around Washington, DC, looking for crowds to target. He finally decided on the National Harbor Waterfront in Maryland, an area popular with tourists and families. The crowds were thin, so he parked the truck to return the next day to perform the attack.

The following day officers found the stolen truck, and on the 28th they arrested Henry after they saw him jumping over a security fence. Prosecutors in Maryland have asked the judge to keep Henry detained on a charge of driving a stolen vehicle across state lines. 

"The defendant, inspired by the ISIS terrorist organization and prepared to die for his cause, stole a vehicle with the intent of 'plowing it through a crowd full of people' at the National Harbor," prosecutors said. "He must be detained pending trial."

Leaving his job in the middle of the day, he stole the U-Haul truck from a Virginia mall parking garage after realizing his four-door sedan "would not cause the catastrophic damage that he desired."

"I was just going to keep driving and driving and driving. I wasn't going to stop," the Associated Press reports a document with Henry's statements. 

Henry went on to say he wanted to cause "panic and chaos" like the deadly truck attack that killed people in Nice, France in 2016. 

Henry was taken for a psychiatric evaluation then into FBI custody. Prosecutors are expected to share new evidence that could add on multiple charges to his charge of interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, which carries up to 10 years in prison.

The government's detention motion states Henry as harboring hatred for "disbelievers" of the Islamic faith. Also, Henry is reported to have continually watched ISIS beheading and fighting videos. Prosecutors found images of the ISIS flag, armed ISIS fighters, and the man who committed the Orlando nightclub massacre in 2016 on his phone. 

Initially, he desired to perform the attack at Dulles International Airport. However, he was not successful in breaching the security perimeter after two hours. He then headed to the National Harbor where there are multiple restaurants, retail and hotels. 

"But so early in the morning on a weekday," prosecutors wrote, "the defendant did not find the sizable crowd upon which he desired to inflict his radical conduct."