A press conference with police. WTOP.
A man has arrested for a plot to use a stolen truck to ram into civilians at the National Harbor in Maryland. WTOP. Rondell Henry, a 28 year old citizen originally from Trinidad and Tobago, was charged with transporting a vehicle across state lines but is also accused of a terror plot. Prosecutors say that Henry watched ISIS propaganda and wanted to settle the score and cause bloodshed. Henry had originally disappeared for his job and the case was treated as a missing person case at first before more evidence was gathered. Henry had stolen a U-Haul truck and had considered an attack at Dulles International Airport, but couldn't get past security with his vehicle. He then drove to the National Harbor but did not find the crowds he expected. He then broke into a boat to rest for the night but was then arrested.
My Comment:
This story broke yesterday but it didn't get more coverage and what little coverage there was, wasn't very good. It sounds like it could have been a serious terror attack if Henry wasn't such a failure.
His basic strategy was sound. Car and truck ramming attacks can easily kill and injure dozens of people. And stealing the U-Haul vehicle means he was all ready to go. Had he been a little more competent as a terrorist he probably could have killed quite a few people. Plowing a moving van into a large group of people is obviously a good way to kill lots of people.
Thankfully, he was an idiot. His plan was fine but his choice of targets were terrible. His first target, Dulles International Airport, has got to be one of the most secure places in America. I am sure that location has very good security and would be very hard to attack. And I am also sure that they have defenses for this exact thing. I can't think of many places to attack with vehicles that would be worse.
The same thing is true with the National Harbor with the added disadvantage of being not exactly popular as a tourist attraction, compared to other locations in the DC metro area. I mean the obvious targets in Washington DC and the surrounding area would likely be well defended, but at least there would be large groups of people there.
I am not too surprised that Henry was originally from Trinidad and Tobago. I have said in the past that the country has a low key terror problem and it's not unexpected that someone from there would be influenced by ISIS. They have had some major terror plots of their own in the country.
It seems pretty clear that Henry was inspired by ISIS. I doubt he had any actual connections but it seems he was pretty obsessed with him. Even though ISIS has been destroyed as a terror network and are no longer putting out high quality propaganda, their propaganda is everywhere and won't be going away anytime soon. We can expect further plots like this.
The good thing is that so many of these wannabe terrorists are horrible at this. Henry had the basics down but failed miserably when it came to execution. This was the best case scenario and it couldn't have gone any better. Nobody got hurt and a very dangerous man is now off of the streets.
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