Fired truck driver arrested after making video pledging allegiance to ISIS
A former truck driver from Connecticut told undercover FBI informants that he planned to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State because ‘I need a rifle and I need some people, I need Islamic law,’ the federal government has alleged.
Kevin Iman McCormick, a 26-year-old from Hamden, Connecticut, was arrested on October 21 by the FBI after he pledged allegiance to ISIS, according to the Justice Department.
He was indicted on October 30 by a federal grand jury in New Haven for attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
The federal government announced the arrest and indictment after news of the charges were first reported by The Daily Beast.
McCormick’s arrest was made possible by tips provided to federal investigators by two Islamic centers in two separate states in the United States, according to The Daily Beast.
‘I do like, I do like ISIS because Abu Musa was like my hero, I cry when I watch that video,’ McCormick is alleged to have told one informant.
The FBI was first alerted to McCormick in late August, when informants in another state reported him saying that ‘we should support ISIS’ and ‘jihad is the way to go.’
Muslim community members also told the FBI that McCormick inquired about ‘circumcision and wanted a doctor that could help him with the procedure.’
Days later, another person ‘who attends an Islamic Center in another state’ told investigators that McCormick ‘expressed a desire to travel to Syria to “fight for Allah”,’ according to the arrest affidavit.
McCormick allegedly cited a number of religious doctrines and texts, though ‘he did so incorrectly.’
‘McCormick agreed with the concerned individual that innocent people should not be attacked and McCormick further stated that is why his fight has to take place in Syria,’ the arrest affidavit states.
Investigators say that McCormick was fired from his job as a truck driver in September.
Soon afterward, he tried to purchase a gun and a knife, but the sales clerk denied him after he admitted that the weapons were ‘not for an animal.’
Ten days later, McCormick was arrested for disorderly conduct by authorities in Arkansas after he ‘kicked open a door’ and confronted his former employer, it is alleged.
On October 12, McCormick is alleged to have attempted to fly to Jamaica, but he was denied boarding by the Department of Homeland Security.
Days later, he allegedly met an FBI informant and expressed a wish to fly to Syria ‘in order to join ISIS.’
According to the affidavit, McCormick told the informant that he ‘wanted to kill people, specifically people from DHS, because DHS prevented McCormick from boarding the flight to Jamaica.’
McCormick also allegedly asked the informant to buy him a shotgun.
Authorities say that on October 18, the informant introduced McCormick to another informant who ‘would be able to smuggle him from out of the United States to Toronto.’
McCormick would then be able to connect with ISIS members in Amman, Jordan, court documents allege. From there, he would make his way to Syria.
‘I’ve been ready for quite a long time now,’ McCormick allegedly said in encrypted text messages to the second FBI informant.
‘I just need help to get out of here. I just, if I could get to the Muslim country.’
He continued: ‘We’re living in this horrible place, like I can’t do it.
‘I have to go fight…I can like feel it in my arm, my heart, like because I know how well I can fight..Because I got brothers dying..I know that they need my help bro.’
The next day, McCormick and the other two FBI informants were arrested while attempting to board a flight from Connecticut to Canada.
The federal government alleges that McCormick recorded two videos on October 19 in which he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader who was killed in a US military raid a week later.
One video was recorded in English while the other was filmed with McCormick speaking his native tongue, Jamaican Patois, according to authorities.
Investigators combed through McCormick’s social media where he posted messages in support of jihad.
On September 8, he posted a video of himself at a gun range shooting live rounds.
‘Allah is the best of Planners Iman,’ read the caption.
In the comments section of the post, one person wrote: ‘Another terrorist hope FBI agents on a look out from a trucker to this? Y? An for what.’
Another commenter who goes by the name Ahmed Elhanafi wrote: ‘Brother Iman, this is not our way. You would never see any prophet posting pics like this.
‘Your posts are misguiding people on the real message of islam. This is not our way.
‘Posts like this do more harm to yourself and the community than good.’
A week before he was arrested, he posted a video of a purported ISIS prison break in Syria, writing in the caption: ‘ALLAHU AKBAR!!!!’
A few days prior, he posted an image showing American soldiers depicted as ‘terrorists.’
The caption read: ‘Kufars man.’
‘Kufar’ is the Arabic word for ‘infidel’ or ‘nonbeliever.’
If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the United States Attorney’s Office in Connecticut for comment.
A message was left with the federal public defender’s office in Connecticut, which is representing McCormick.
Source: Daily Mail
