Teen Who Planned ISIS-Inspired Mass Murder Gets 2 Decades Behind Bars
A judge gave a 20-year prison sentence to a teenager who admitted to plotting an ISIS-inspired attack at a Texas mall.
“Pursuant to a plea agreement reached by prosecutors and the defendant, Judge (John) Roach sentenced (Matin) Azizi-Yarand to 20 years in prison for the solicitation charge and 10 years in prison for the terroristic threat charge,” the U.S. District Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Texas said in a news release Monday.
Both sentences will happen at the same time, the news release said.
Azizi-Yarand, now 18, allegedly recruited individuals to help him conduct a mass shooting at Stonebriar Centre mall in Frisco, Texas, in the middle of May 2018, the statement said.
“I’d like to actually make a cop surrender and drop his gun, then douse him with gasoline and burn him … record it,” Azizi-Yarand reportedly said while discussing the shooting, according to WFAA-TV.
He allegedly chose May because it was during Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Azizi-Yarand did not want to hurt other Muslims.
“He did not think Muslims would be in the mall during a Muslim holiday,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Brown said, according to The Morning News.
The then-high school student gave more than $1,400 to an undercover FBI official in exchange for weapons and gear, the prosecutors’ office said in the news release.
Azizi-Yarand was arrested in May 2018, according to the news release.
“This was a serious, serious threat,” Brown said. “There is no doubt that Azizi-Yarand would have carried out what he was planning.”
Federal officials had a difficult time prosecuting Azizi-Yarand in federal court because he was 17 at the time of his arrest, according to the release.
“Individuals age 17 and above are considered adults under Texas state criminal law, while federal law requires an individual to be 18 to be considered an adult,” the news release said.
Azizi-Yarand will be eligible for parole after serving prison for a decade, the release said.
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