An Ohio man accused of planning to attack a Toledo synagogue told undercover FBI agents he was inspired by Islamist propaganda and the suspect in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre that killed 11 people, reports USA Today. The murderous plot is the second to be thwarted in Ohio, say federal prosecutors, who on Monday detailed a separate, unrelated large-scale scheme in which a 23-year-old woman was charged with stockpiling bomb materials and planning a mass killing at a Toledo bar. The suspect in the Toledo synagogue plot told an undercover FBI agent that he appreciated the Pittsburgh assault. “I admire what the guy did with the shooting actually,” wrote Damon Joseph, 21. He added: “I can see myself carrying out this type of operation inshallah,” he said, using the Arabic word for “God willing.”
A gunman shot and killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October. Robert Bowers, a Pittsburgh man with social media ties to the white nationalist movement, has been charged with 44 counts of murder, firearms offenses and hate crimes. Joseph, of Holland, Oh., was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Police arrested him Friday after he took possession of two semi-automatic rifles to carry out the attack. Agents said Joseph, who used the name “Abdullah Ali Yusuf,” drew their attention by posting support of Islamic terrorists on social media accounts, including images from ISIS propaganda. Joseph told the agents he was deciding between two synagogues, depending on “which one will have the most people, what time and what day.” Agents quoted him as saying, “Go big or go home.” In the Toledo case, unrelated to Joseph’s alleged plot, authorities arrested Elizabeth Lecron, after they said she bought bomb-making materials as part of a terrorist attack.