A Maryland man was charged with planning to use a stolen rental truck to mow down pedestrians at a popular Washington, D.C.-area dining and shopping destination in a plot inspired by the terrorist group Islamic State, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rondell Henry, a 28-year-old computer engineer, was arrested last week and charged with interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. Other charges are likely to be added. The government believes him to be a convert to Islam, according to a department spokeswoman. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Trinidad and Tobago. Prosecutors said Henry harbored hatred for non-Muslims and stole a U-Haul truck as part of a plot to kill “disbelievers.”
After stealing the vehicle, Henry first considered an attack at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, authorities said, before settling on a plan to use a vehicle to attack pedestrians at National Harbor, a waterfront development near Washington known for restaurants, stores and a casino. “I was just going to keep driving and driving and driving. I wasn’t going to stop,” Henry was quoted as saying. With the crowds too thin at National Harbor, the court documents alleged he parked the U-Haul, broke into a boat and hid there overnight. Police arrested him after spotting the stolen U-Haul and putting it under surveillance. The alleged foiled attack on National Harbor is reminiscent of another Islamic State-inspired attack in Nice, France, in 2016, where a Tunisian man drove a 19-ton truck through a crowd, killing 86 people and wounding 458 others. According to court documents, Henry cited the Nice attack in his plan, saying that he wanted to create “panic and chaos” in the crowds at National Harbor, the “same as what happened in France.”