Minnesota Public Radio is reporting Wednesday that federal agents have charged a 19-year-old former student with attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda, as well as arson and making a false statement to the FBI.
BREAKING: Tnuza Hassan, a 19-year-old former student at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, was charged with attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda, arson and making a false statement to the FBI.
— Mukhtar M. Ibrahim (@mukhtaryare) February 7, 2018
Tnuza Hassan, who allegedly started several fires to some buildings at the university on Jan. 17, was questioned by the FBI several months before the alleged arson. https://t.co/fs4Duni3E7 pic.twitter.com/EjiL6aqxFs
— Mukhtar M. Ibrahim (@mukhtaryare) February 7, 2018
Mukhtar M. Ibrahim reports that FBI agents had interviewed Tnuza Hassan last September about a letter to fellow students encouraging them to “join the jihad in fighting” and to “join Al Qaeda, Taliban, or Al Shabaab.” Hassan also allegedly started several fires in buildings at the university in January.
Breaking: A federal grand jury just indicted Tnuza J. Hassan, 19, on terrorism and other charges for setting fires last month at St. Catherine Univ. Hassan has allegedly said fires were retribution for US military intervention in Middle East. More soon at https://t.co/vQhdJGIct5
— Stephen Montemayor (@smontemayor) February 7, 2018
The suspect who allegedly set several small fires on the St. Catherine's campus in St. Paul is now facing terrorism charges for an al-Qaeda recruitment letter authorities say she wrote last Septemberhttps://t.co/qeGbminhwS
— FOX 9 (@FOX9) February 7, 2018
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Brett Bachman reports for Fox 9 News:
… on Jan. 17, the 19-year-old set several small fires around the St. Catherine’s campus, telling investigators, “You guys are lucky that I don’t know how to build a bomb because I would have done that.”
It was all to protest U.S. military action overseas, she told police, with the express intention of hurting people — though nobody was injured as a result of her actions.
“She’s been reading about the U.S. military destroying schools in Iraq or Afghanistan and she felt that she should do exactly the same thing,” according to the charges. “She wanted to burn the school to the ground and her intent was to hurt people.”
The most serious fire was started in a residential dormitory that also houses a daycare facility. Police said there were 33 children and eight adults in the building at the time.
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