Crime & Safety
Federal Complaint Offers Inside Look At Accused Terrorist Cousins
Cousin bragged of high "body count" in Joliet National Guard Headquarters attack while other went to Syria to join ISIL, feds say.
A 33-page federal complaint offers an inside look at two Aurora cousins’ plans to wage a terrorist attack the Joliet-based National Guard Headquarters while the other traveled to the Middle East to fight with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Army National Guard Specialist Hasan Edmonds, 22, and his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, a 29-year-old father of five and convicted felon, were arrested Wednesday by FBI agents. Both have been charged with one count each of conspiring to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
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The cousins, who are U.S. citizens, attended West Aurora High School, where Hasaan Edmonds graduated in 2011, and his older cousin dropped out his senior year in 2004, district officials told the Chicago Tribune.
Hasan Edmonds had been a supply specialist with the 634th Brigade Support Battalion in Joliet, where he was responsible for ordering uniforms and equipment.
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According to the Tribune, federal authorities had recently informed the guard that Hasan Edmonds was under investigation. A guard spokesman said that “discrete but concrete steps” had been taken to ensure that Hasan Edmonds did not have access to equipment or computers.
His cousin, Jonas, served five years in a Georgia prison after pleading guilty in 2005 to an armed robbery of a McDonalds in suburban Atlanta, the paper said. He received a 15-year prison term but was released in 2010.
According to the federal complaint, an FBI undercover informant posing as an ISIL operative in the Middle East sent a friend request to Hasan Edmonds’ “Hasan Rasheed” Facebook profile in late 2014.
The informant and Hasan Edmonds then began an extensive exchange of private Facebook messages in January of Hasan’s plans to travel overseas with his older cousin and his family in the spring, federal authorities claim.
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Once their women were safe in an ISIL-controlled province the complaint alleges the Aurora cousins would join ISIL in fighting, or if necessary, engage in violence in the United States.
Hasan Edmonds further relayed in online communications with the informant that he had signed on for six years with the Army National Guard when he was a “non-believer,” but had no intention of finishing his obligation serving “the infidels.”
Hasan touted in transcripts of his online communications his experience with firearms and weapons based on his military.
“To be honest I’m best with my sidearm (handgun) and then my rifle,” he allegedly bragged to the informant.
According to federal authorities, their informant had recommended that Hasan Edmonds enter Syria through Egypt because it was safer than going through Turkey.
Discussing U.S. terror targets, Hasan allegedly suggested to the informant that the “best way to beat [the United States] is to break their will. With the U.S. no matter how many you kill they will keep coming unless the soldiers and the American public no longer have the will to fight.”
By this time, Jonas Edmonds had also started communicating online with the undercover informant, the complaint said.
The Aurora cousins hooked up March 3 with a second FBI undercover informant posing as a potential accomplice at a “public location” in Downers Grove, the complaint said.
The aspiring terrorists met again with their “accomplice” earlier this week at Jonas Edmonds’ home in Aurora. Federal authorities stated that Hasan Edmonds had bought a round-tip ticket to Cairo, Egypt on Delta Airlines to avoid detection by law enforcement officers. He had also been told he would be assigned to Derna, Libya, where he would use his military background to train others.
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During Monday’s meeting, federal authorities said that the three had also discussed a plan to attack the Joliet National Guard Headquarters. Jonas revealed that after his cousin left for Cairo on March 25, he would purchase AK47s and grenades from a third-party.
According to the complaint, Jonas asked the second informant to help him attack the National Guard base in Joliet, where he anticipated a “body count” of 100 to 150. His cousin corrected him that the body count would likely be closer to 120.
Hasan Edmonds allegedly offered to provide his cousin and the informant with military uniforms and a list of the “rankings” or officers, suggesting they should “kill the head.”
The second informant indicated he would like to see the military installation. On Tuesday, the three went to Joliet to look over the building. During the drive, they discussed how to conduct an attack, the complaint said.
Hasan Edmonds described the inside of the installation and which rooms they should avoid during the attack. Hasan went inside National Guard building to pick up a training schedule, federal authorities claim.
Agents from Chicago’s FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Hasan Edmonds at 5:21 p.m. Wednesday at Chicago Midway International Airport, where he was to begin his journey to Cairo, with planned layovers in Detroit and Amsterdam.
His cousin, Jonas, was arrested in his Aurora home a few hours later. Both appeared shackled and handcuffed before U.S. Magistrate Judge Shelia Finnegan on Thursday.
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