Friday, December 08, 2006

Rockford terror-plot thwarted

Media reports are everywhere about a thwarted terror-plot in Rockford, Illinois, the state's second largest city.

The national media is saying the suspect, Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef, also known as Derrick Shareef, is a Chicagoan, but this CBS 2 Chicago story lists his hometown as Rockford, which makes more sense. Why travel 90 miles to Rockford to blow off grenades at a mall when there are dozens of shopping centers in and near Chicago?

The only explanation I can come up with, if Shareef is a Chicagoan, is that Rockford's CherryVale Shopping Mall, which I've seen from Interstate 90, allows a very quick getaway.

UPDATE 3:15 PM: From ABC 7 Chicago:

A man who authorities said wanted to commit acts of "violent jihad" against civilians was charged Friday in a plot to set off hand grenades in garbage cans at a shopping mall, authorities said.

"He fixed on a day of December 22nd on Friday ... because it was the Friday before Christmas and thought that would be the highest concentration of shoppers that he could kill and injure," said Robert Grant, special agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office.

The Chicago "free registration required" is describing Shareef as a Muslim convert.

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