Shopping Mall Attacks Thwarted

The FBI has arrested Tarek Mehanna, a 27-year-old from Sudbury, Massachusetts, and charged him with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists after it was discovered that he’d been allegedly plotting a shopping mall attack. Mehanna, a Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate who lived with his parents, was arrested at Logan International Airport a year ago and charged with lying to FBI agents in another terrorism investigation. But after a recent search of his home, further charges have been added. Mehanna allegedly had multiple conversations with his co-conspirators about randomly shooting people in a shopping mall with automatic weapons, including discussions of the logistics of obtaining the weapons and which mall entrances could be used. According to a lawyer, the conspirators also discussed attacking two members of the executive branch, though they no longer work there.