Hamden man pleads guilty after attempting to join terrorism organization ISIS
A Hamden man pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to provide support to a designated terrorist organization after he reportedly tried to leave the country to join the terrorist group ISIS in 2019, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Kevin Iman McCormick, 29, of Hamden pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, which is a designated terrorist organization, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. McCormick entered his plea during an appearance in Bridgeport federal court Thursday.
Between August to October of 2019, McCormick made multiple statements to others expressing that he wanted to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS.
“I gotta fight bro, because those people, Abu Masa and ISIL, they fought for me bro, I know it, I can feel it, in my heart. So it’s my time to fight. … It just is what it is bro, it’s just my — it’s just my time to go bro,” McCormick said during a conversation in October of 2019, according to court documents and statements made in court.
When asked where he wanted to travel, the U.S. Attorney’s office said McCormick replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know bro — it’s gotta be like Syria. Where ISIL is a … whichever place is easiest, whatever place I can get there the fastest, the quickest, the easiest, and where I can have a rifle and I can have some people bro. That’s what I need, I need a rifle and I need some people, I need Islamic law, I need, that’s what I need, because if I have these things, it’s gonna to be very hard to kill me.”
He then attempted to board a flight to Jamaica from Connecticut on Oct. 12, 2019, but was stopped by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He told another person that he wanted to travel to Jamaica and then to Syria to join ISIS. He also signaled he wanted to acquire weapons, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
A week later on Oct. 19, 2019, he made a video pledging allegiance to ISIS and former leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who died after detonating an explosive during a U.S. raid in Syria on Oct. 27, 2019. McCormick purchased a plane ticket from Toronto, Canada to Amman, Jordan on Oct. 19 and was arrested at a small airport in Connecticut two days later.
He has been in custody since his arrest, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kari Dooley on April 6. He is facing up to 20 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Source: courant
