Three teenagers from three different states planned “mass murders” at Chicago mosques and synagogues all in the name of ISIS, the FBI alleges in newly-unsealed court documents. NBC 5 Investigates’ Phil Rogers reports.
NBC 5 Investigates has learned that a teenager linked by federal authorities to an alleged plot to attack a Chicago-area mosque is a 15-year-old who lives in suburban Hampshire.
Previously, NBC 5 reported that the alleged scheme to murder attendees at an unspecified Chicago mosque was revealed after agents from Chicago raided an unspecified home, recovering a shotgun, swords and knives, a bow and arrows and homemade ISIS flags. But a search warrant application in the case that was unsealed Wednesday revealed the home’s Hampshire address.
NBC 5 is not naming the teen because he is a juvenile and has not been charged in the case.
Charging documents in the case say it was the questioning of the Hampshire juvenile which led federal authorities to 18-year-old Xavier Pelkey of Waterville, Maine. Agents serving a search warrant at Pelkey’s house reportedly found three home-made explosive devices fashioned from fireworks, taped together with pins and thumbtacks. They also reportedly observed a hand-painted ISIS flag on Pelkey’s bedroom wall.
The charges against Pelkey state that the Hampshire teenager and a second juvenile, who claimed to be from Canada, knew him as “Abdullah” in online Instagram chats. The three reportedly planned to meet in Chicago during spring break to carry out a coordinated attack on an unspecified Shia mosque.
The Hampshire teen, identified in court documents only as “juvenile #1,” reportedly told investigators that the alleged plot included plans to enter the mosque, separate the children from the adults and then murder the adults. An FBI agent stated, “If they had not encountered law enforcement at that point, they would continue on to another Shia mosque or Jewish synagogue and execute the same plan.”
According to the search warrant application unsealed in Maine, the conversations spanned from late November 2021 through February. Those conversations began with the Hampshire teenager, who called himself “albilarusi” online, exchanging repeated messages with a juvenile who purported to be from Canada, identified as “French.jafar.” (Pelkey’s charging documents would later state that the second juvenile involved in the alleged plot was in Kentucky). During those conversations, the Hampshire teen reportedly referred to Abdullah (Pelkey) as “the bomb guy.”
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In a chat with the Hampshire teenager on Jan. 16, the search warrant application says Pelkey reportedly made reference to Malik Faisal Akram, who held congregants hostage at a Texas synagogue the day before. On Feb. 3, Pelkey reportedly messaged another Instagram user about an assault by U.S. military forces on ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, during which al-Qurayshi blew himself up. The agent writing the affidavit said Pelkey’s comments indicated he viewed the ISIS leader as a martyr.
The document says as they conducted surveillance on Pelkey in Maine, an agent “conducted a ruse” at the suspect’s house, knocking on the door and observing him “wearing Islamic garb” as he spoke to the woman who answered.
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Of the three, only Pelkey has been charged, with felony possession of an unregistered destructive device. He was ordered held without bail.
