FBI Probes Threats in Dearborn After Paris Attacks

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The FBI said Tuesday that it is working with Dearborn police and state and federal authorities to investigate “recent threats in Dearborn” after last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

“In the immediate wake of the attacks in Paris, law enforcement at all levels has confronted a surge of misguided retaliatory threats toward others across the country,” the FBI said in a news release.

“In response to recent threats in Dearborn, the FBI Detroit Field Office, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, and the Dearborn Police Department have collaborated to ensure law abiding citizens are protected, and to deter those who would threaten them.

The FBI didn’t disclose specific threats in Dearborn, but David P. Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office said special emphasis has been placed on fostering relationships among Metro Detroit’s high population of Arab-American residents.

About 40 percent of Dearborn residents are Arab Americans, and many of them are Muslim. The city has the highest concentration of Arab American residents of any in the United States.

“The FBI Detroit will aggressively work with our state and local partners to investigate and bring to justice those who would make violent threats against others in response to, or in retribution for, the terrorist attacks conducted in Paris last week,” Gelios said in the news release..

“The FBI has worked tirelessly nationwide to develop and maintain relationships with a host of diverse communities across the country,” he said. “Nowhere is that more true than in metropolitan Detroit, and the FBI highly values the relationships it has forged with all the communities we serve throughout Michigan.”

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said his department is “totally committed to safeguarding the security of our 100,000 residents and 200,000 daily visitors alike.”

“We value our relationship with federal, state and county law enforcement partners and will continue to coordinate efforts that enhance the safety of our region,” he said.

A day after the ISIS terrorist attacks that killed 129 in Paris, Dearborn police investigated a social media threat against Dearborn in which a Twitter user wrote: “Dearborn, MI, has the highest Muslim population in the United States. Let’s (expletive) that place up and send a message to ISIS. We’re coming.”

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Haddad said on a community Facebook page that the person who tweeted the threat had been located and was “no longer a threat to Dearborn.” The woman who sent the tweet later apologized on WXYZ-TV and said the “off-the-cuff post will haunt” her.

It’s unclear if the woman, who is retired from the military, will face charges.

In the news release, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said authorities “take seriously all threats of violence against any of the residents of our community and will prosecute those that meet the legal elements of a criminal offense.”

“Violent extremism in any form is a risk to public safety and our way of life in America,” McQuade said.