Baton Rouge, Louisiana
AP
—
Plans to “carry out an attack” in New Orleans have been thwarted after an ex-Marine was arrested whereas on the way in which to the Louisiana metropolis with weapons and physique armor in the automobile, in accordance with courtroom paperwork obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Micah James Legnon, 28, was charged with threats in interstate commerce. Federal authorities stated they’d been surveilling Legnon attributable to ties to an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group. Four members of the group have been arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert, east of Los Angeles, as they have been rehearsing a foiled plot to set off bombs in Southern California on New Year’s Eve, authorities stated.
Plans of an attack in New Orleans started to accentuate after a number of hundred immigration brokers have been deployed to southeast Louisiana, authorities stated. The enforcement operation, dubbed “Catahoula Crunch,” has a objective of 5,000 arrests. The crackdown is the most recent in a collection of enforcement operations which have additionally unfolded in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Legnon believed it was time to “recreate” Waco with an attack in New Orleans, authorities stated in courtroom paperwork. They pointed to a December 4 chat message by Legnon written beneath the alias “Kateri The Witch” the day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers arrived in New Orleans. Legnon’s alias had “she/her” written beside it, however jail information referred to Legnon as male.
Investigators consider Legnon’s chat message referred to the 1993 siege at a Waco, Texas, compound that ended after 51 days and the deaths of 4 federal brokers, a spiritual chief and 76 of his followers.
Eight days after the put up in the group chat, Legnon appeared to position a weapon right into a automobile, an FBI agent surveilling Legnon stated in the courtroom doc.
“On my way” to New Orleans, Legnon stated in a bunch chat. Legnon then shared a video of a gun and bullet proof vest and wrote “just incase.”
After Legnon’s December 12 arrest, brokers discovered an assault rifle, a pistol, a gasoline canister and physique armor contained in the automobile. Inside Legnon’s residence in New Iberia, Louisiana, brokers discovered sniper coaching manuals, SWAT coaching manuals, assault rifles, and rounds of ammunition.
Court paperwork didn’t record an lawyer who may converse on Legnon’s behalf. The Office of the State Public Defender and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana didn’t instantly reply to requests for info on Legnon’s lawyer, and jail officers stated they didn’t know who is perhaps representing Legnon.
Officials say Legnon “is suspected to be associated with” the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The group calls for “liberation through decolonization tribal sovereignty,” based mostly on courtroom paperwork. Federal authorities described the group as “a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government and anti-capitalist group.”
In the California case, a member of the group created an in depth plan to bomb 5 or extra companies throughout Southern California on New Year’s Eve. The plot included planting backpacks crammed with complicated pipe bombs that have been set to be detonated concurrently at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Two of the group’s members additionally had mentioned plans to attack ICE brokers and automobiles with pipe bombs in 2026, in accordance with the prison criticism.
Some particulars of the foiled plot in California are eerily just like this yr’s deadly attack in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter.
In the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove his truck down Bourbon Street, plowing into New Year’s reveler’s — killing 14 individuals and injuring dozens extra. Prior to the attack, Jabbar, who was later fatally shot by police, had positioned a number of bombs in coolers across the French Quarter. None of the explosive gadgets detonated. Jabbar was impressed by the Islamic State group, authorities stated.