Second Accused Terrorist Pleads Guilty in Joliet Armory Shooting Plot

CHICAGO, IL - An accused Aurora terrorist pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State.

According to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, Hasan Edmonds, 23, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court. Edmonds will be sentenced March 18 and faces up to 30 years in prison.

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Edmonds and his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, 30, allegedly plotted to shoot up the Illinois National Guard Armory in Joliet. Jonas Edmonds pleaded guilty Dec. 9 and will be sentenced Jan. 27 for his involvement in the plot. He faces up to 23 years in prison.

The men allegedly traveled to the Joliet Armory March 24 to scout out an attack they hoped would kill as many as 150 people.

Hasan Edmonds had trained at the armory with the Illinois National Guard. Jonas Edmonds was going to attack the armory while wearing his cousin’s uniform from when he served with the 634th Brigade Support Battalion

Hasan was arrested March 25 at Chicago Midway International Airport while attempting to board a flight to Detroit on the first leg of his journey to Cairo, Egypt. Hasan had planned to hook up with an ISIS connection — an undercover FBI informant — who would take him into Syria where he would join up with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, prosecutors said.

According to the Sun-Times, when Hasan Edmonds was arrested, he was carrying a black backpack filled with “all-weather and camouflage notepads, a camera, a Quran and two books: ’Fortress of the Muslim’ and ’The Covenant of the Flame.’”

Jonas Edmonds was arrested at his Aurora home later that evening. Prosecutors allege Hasan provided uniforms, a list of ranking officers and other inside information about the Joliet military facility.

The cousins had been under watch by federal agents since Hasan Edmonds traded Facebook messages with an undercover agent he believed was involved with ISIS.