April 30 (UPI) — Federal officials arrested a U.S. Army veteran suspected of planning to detonate multiple improvised explosive devices throughout Southern California, law enforcement sources said Monday.
Authorities arrested Mark Steven Domingo, 26, of Reseda, Calif., on Friday night after he accepted a fake bomb he believed to be real from an undercover officer, the Los Angeles Times first reported citing a federal affidavit.
Unnamed law enforcement sources told KABC-TV in Los Angeles that Domingo faces domestic terrorism charges.
The affidavit said Domingo considered targeting Jewish people, churches and police officers in his planned attack, but settled on attacking a white nationalist rally this weekend in Long Beach. A recent convert to Islam, he allegedly saw the plot as revenge for the March 15 attack on two New Zealand mosques that left 50 people dead.
Domingo allegedly bought nails for shrapnel and asked an acquaintance who was working undercover with the FBI to help him find a bomb maker for the plot.
“Domingo said he specifically bought 3-inch nails because they would be long enough to penetrate the human body and puncture internal organs,” the affidavit said.
