Accused in Terror Threat, Dearborn Heights Man Appears in Court

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI – A Dearborn Heights man the FBI accused of plotting to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack on police and a large 6,000-member Detroit church appeared Monday in U.S. District Court, where he is facing illegal drug and firearms charges.

Terrorism-related charges haven’t been filed against Kahlil Abu-Rayyan, 21. His detention hearing was rescheduled for Wednesday because he has hired a new attorney, Thomas Eoannu, who needs time to travel from Buffalo, NY, according to reports from the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.

The FBI was investigating Abu-Rayyan on drug and firearms violations, but in the course of monitoring his social media accounts, found re-tweets of ISIS propaganda that included videos showing a Jordanian fighter pilot being burned alive, the beheadings of Christians in Egypt and men being thrown from high-rise buildings as a means of execution.

Earlier on Patch

• FBI: Dearborn Heights Man Planned ISIS-Inspired Attack

According to a complaint unsealed in federal court Thursday, Abu-Rayyan not used his Twitter account to show support for ISIS, or ISIL, as it is sometimes called, he also told an undercover FBI agent in December that he had an AK-47 machine gun and “tried to shoot up a church,” and that he “had it planned out” until his father discovered the arsenal, the government said.

“Honestly I regret not doing it. (If I) can’t go do jihad at the Middle East, I would do my jihad over here,” he said, according to the federal court complaint.

The “FBI acted quickly and comprehensively to investigate and arrest” Abu-Rayyan after determining he “posed a potential public safety threat,” Gelious said, adding that Abu-Rayyan was under around-the-clock surveillance “to ensure there was a prompt response to any attempted violent act.”

According to the complaint, Abu-Rayyan lied on an ATF form about taking illegal drugs after he bought a gun at a Dearborn Heights sporting goods store on Oct. 5. On Oct. 7, Detroit police found marijuana and a pistol — but no concealed pistol license — when they stopped him for speeding.

Wayne County prosecutors issued a warrant charging Abu-Rayyan with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana on Nov. 17, and he was arrested on Nov. 30. At the time, Abu-Rayyan told police he had smoked marijuana for two years and typically smoked between four and five “blunts” a week.

Abu-Rayyan pleaded guilty to the marijuana charge on Jan. 15, and his trial on the concealed weapon charge is set for Feb. 16. According to the complaint, he said on Jan. 21 that “he wanted to kill the officer who arrested him in October.”

On Jan. 22, “Abu-Rayyan also said hearing about shootings and death makes him excited. He continued, ‘I would gladly behead people if I needed to...It is my dream to behead someone,’” the government said.