The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Erick Jamal Hendricks from the U.S. state of North Carolina for trying to help the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) coordinate an attack in the United States, the Department of Justice said in a press release on Thursday.
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According to the complaint, Hendricks also connected the FBI employee with Simpson via social media, communicated with the FBI employee about the contest in Garland and directed the FBI employee to go to the contest.
Shortly after Hendricks requested information on the size of the gathering, the police presence and whether “snipers” were stationed, Simpson and Soofi drove up to start their terror attempt before the officer shot them.
That man told authorities he was contacted by Hendricks about training together. The undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent confirmed in the affidavit that his communications with Hendricks were similar to Al-Ghazi’s. An unnamed subject was arrested for attempting to buy an AK-47 and ammunition illegally from an undercover officer in Ohio.
According to the allegations, the person understood these statements to mean that Hendricks was recruiting people to train together for the goal of conducting a terrorist attack in the US and to see if the person was suitable a recruit.
Hendricks had gotten in touch with that individual over social media to recruit him in the spring of 2015, according to the complaint.
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He allegedly told one undercover agent online, “It’s hard to sift through brothers”, but, “everyday I do this day in and day out”. Hendricks told the informant that future targets would include the organizer of the Muhammad cartoon event and members of the military whose information had been obtained in a computer hack. It wasn’t immediately clear if Hendricks had a job in either place. A woman named Tyrinda Hendricks leased the apartment, but no other records were available because the complex had changed management companies.
