It is now emerging that a former U.S soldier attempted to carry out a plan to conduct mass-shooting at a U.S military base.
Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said—a former member of the Michigan Army National Guard —was on Wednesday, May 14 arrested after investigations revealed he planned to conduct the attack on the military base in Warren, Michigan on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a foreign terrorist organisation.
The U.S Department of Justice says the 19-year-old will be charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation and distributing information related to a destructive device.
“This [accused] is charged with planning a deadly attack on a U.S. military base here at home for ISIS,” said Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement, we foiled the attack before lives were lost. We will not hesitate to bring the full force of the Department to find and prosecute those who seek to harm our men and women in the military and to protect all Americans.”
According to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., ISIS is a brutal terrorist organisation which seeks to kill Americans, and that helping ISIS or any other terrorist organisation carry out acts of violence is not only a reprehensible crime – “it is a threat to our entire nation and way of life”.
Jerome said his office will not tolerate such crimes or threats, and we will use the full weight of the law against anyone who engages in terrorism.
“The arrest of this former soldier is a sobering reminder of the importance of our counterintelligence efforts to identify and disrupt those who would seek to harm our nation,” said Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, the commanding general of Army Counterintelligence Command. “I commend the tireless work of our special agents and FBI partners who worked together to investigate and apprehend this individual. We will continue to collaborate with our partners to prevent similar incidents in the future. We urge all soldiers to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to their chain of command, as the safety and security of our Army and our nation depends on our collective efforts to prevent insider threats.”
What did he do exactly?
According to the charge sheet, Said informed two undercover law enforcement officers of a plan he had devised and formulated to conduct a mass-shooting at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) facility at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan.
In April 2025, the two undercover officers indicated they intended to carry out Said’s plan at the direction of ISIS. In response, Said provided material assistance to the attack plan, including providing armor-piercing ammunition and magazines for the attack, flying his drone over TACOM to conduct operational reconnaissance, training the undercover employees on firearms and the construction of Molotov cocktails for use during the attack, and planning numerous details of the attack including how to enter TACOM and which building to target.
On May 13 – the scheduled day of the attack – Said was arrested after he traveled to an area near TACOM and launched his drone in support of the attack plan.
Based on the charges in the complaint, Said faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count if convicted.
