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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Detroit: Muslim amassed arsenal, cheered jihad massacres in Paris and Orlando

Aug 31, 2016 8:49 am By Robert Spencer

Authorities remain spectacularly incurious about how this convert to Islam, and so many other converts, got the idea that his new religion commanded him to commit treason and murder.

Sebastian Gregerson, aka Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl

“FBI: Detroit suspect fantasized about deadly attacks,” by Robert Snell, The Detroit News, August 29, 2016:

Detroit — An American Muslim who allegedly bought illegal grenades from an undercover FBI agent is an Islamic State supporter who fantasized about killing local Muslim religious leaders and a park ranger, according to federal court records unsealed Monday.

Interviews and court records, for the first time, portray Detroiter Sebastian Gregerson, aka Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, as a homegrown extremist who allegedly amassed an arsenal to carry out an attack while cheering mass killings in Paris and Orlando.

The allegations are contained in an FBI search warrant affidavit listing probable cause to search Gregerson’s home and car on July 31. Agents were looking for evidence Gregerson, 29, was providing material support to a foreign terrorist group.

FBI agents raided Gregerson’s home on the 8300 block of Schaefer Highway south of Joy Road after Gregerson allegedly bought five illegal grenades that same day from the undercover FBI agent.

The search yielded an arsenal of weapons, including seven rifles, two AK-47 assault rifles, a shotgun, handguns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, computer equipment and cellphones, according to a sealed search warrant inventory obtained by The Detroit News.

Part of Gregerson’s arsenal included tactical knives similar to those used in videos of Islamic State extremists beheading western hostages, according to the FBI.

Gregerson also owned an underground ammunition storage container, the FBI claimed.

Agents had permission from a federal judge to dig up Gregerson’s yard and use a metal detector in hopes of finding the buried container, according to the affidavit. It’s unclear whether a container was found.

It appears agents have not found evidence indicating that Gregerson was providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He has not been charged with a terrorism-related crime, but the investigation is ongoing. And there was no specific planned attack outlined in the court records.

Instead, Gregerson, who is being held without bond, faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted of unregistered possession of a destructive device and unlicensed receipt of explosive materials.

16-month FBI investigation

The affidavit further portrays Gregerson as a vocal Islamic State supporter who spoke of violence while being secretly recorded by an undercover FBI agent during a 16-month investigation.

In May, Gregerson and the undercover agent met at an area restaurant. A group of local Muslim religious leaders entered the restaurant.

“Gregerson recognized the men. He then proceeded to talk with (the agent) about committing violent acts against them. He described the scenario ‘like shooting fish in a barrel,’ ” according to the affidavit.

It is not uncommon for Islamic State extremists to talk about harming local Muslim religious leaders, said Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, who has followed the case and reviewed the court filings for The News.

“Individuals drawn to (the Islamic State) don’t see prominent American Muslim religious leaders as legitimate,” he said. “They see them as sellouts.”

In June, Gregerson met with the agent at a Dearborn park, according to court records.

Gregerson spotted what he believed was a park ranger and described a way to launch an ambush and attack.

“People like this, this isn’t even a challenge,” Gregerson allegedly said. “You know they talk about all these lone wolves and all this kind of stuff, you know, threats. Listen, if someone really wanted to do something that knew what they were doing, they could do something, and they could do a lot.”

The bulk of the search warrant affidavit is based on secretly recorded conversations made by the undercover FBI agent who Gregerson believed was an Islamic State supporter.

The conversations were dominated by Gregerson talking about the Islamic State and weapons, particularly grenades and grenade launchers, according to the affidavit.

“In addition, on several occasions, Gregerson expressed his interest in committing violent acts,” according to the FBI.

During one conversation in April, Gregerson referenced the June 2014 declaration by militant leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaiming the establishment of the Islamic State.

“Gregerson told the (undercover agent) that he watched al-Baghdadi’s speech some five times that day and celebrated the event with associates,” according to the affidavit. “Gregerson stated: ‘We could not stop smiling.’ ”

“There is no more ambiguity about this case,” Hughes said. “He’s been a true believer for a few years.”

Praise for Orlando attack

During the investigation, the FBI said Gregerson also praised Islamic State-inspired extremists, including Omar Mateen, the American-born man who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June.

Gregerson, a Target employee who converted to Islam after high school, called Mateen his “brother” and offered constructive criticism about how the Orlando shooter could have boosted the body count, according to court records.

“If he would have just kind of stayed in there and held them off for a few more hours … we would’ve been talking about 75 (fatalities) …” Gregerson told the undercover FBI agent during a recorded conversation on June 21. “Then maybe he could have waited for the cops to come inside and try to pick off a couple of them on the inside …”

During the prolonged investigation, Gregerson repeatedly expressed his support for Islamic State extremists, court records allege. Gregerson frequently visited Islamic State websites and praised extremists’ violent methods, according to the FBI.

Gregerson said he wanted to move with his wife and four-year-old twin sons to Islamic State territory and “remain there permanently,” according to the search warrant affidavit….

During the raid of Gregerson’s home on July 31, agents also found several CDs marked “Anwar al-Awlaki,” the al-Qaida recruiter who met with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab before the failed Christmas Day 2009 terror attack on a Detroit-bound plane, according to the sealed search warrant records. Al-Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011.

Gregerson claimed to have all of al-Awlaki’s lectures, which have been used to radicalize homegrown violent extremists, according to the FBI.

According to further court records, in November, after extremists killed 130 people in a series of suicide bombings and shootings in Paris, Gregerson supported the attacks on Facebook.

“Only a fool would believe they are untouchable and that just because you kill people a thousand miles away every day it will not affect you,” Gregerson allegedly wrote. “The world is at war, when one engages your enemy in their homeland your homeland is not exempt. Accept responsibility for your actions if you dont (sic) want war in your land dont (sic) bring it to someone else’s home.”

Emails sent from Gregerson’s account also praised Islamic State extremists in emails sent between February 2015 and March 18, 2016, according to the FBI.

He disseminated the Islamic State’s official English language magazine, Dabiq, court records allege.

“One of its aims is to recruit individuals from western countries to commit ‘lone wolf’ attacks,” the FBI alleged….

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Filed Under: American jihadis, converts to Islam, Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), Jihad in the U.S. Tagged With: Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, Sebastian Gregerson


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Comments

  1. mortimer says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 8:58 am

    Another piece of evidence that proves Islam is not the religion of peace, but the religion of warfare against disbelievers.

    Jihad is called the ‘sixth pillar of Islam’ without which the other five could not exist.

    Jihad comes in four flavors: military, verbal, written, financial. Muslims have a choice on how to destroy Western civilization. Militant terrorism is an option for most Muslims. The rest undermine the West with the other three methods.

    Bribing politicians (e.g. massive contributions by Arab governments to the Clinton Foundation) is a valid form of jihad practiced by Mohammed and commanded by him just before his death by poisoning.

  2. mortimer says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 8:59 am

    Correction: Militant terrorism is NOT an option for most Muslims.

  3. G. R. Gunning says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 9:09 am

    He belongs in a looney-bin until his life is over.

    • mortimer says

      Aug 31, 2016 at 9:43 am

      GRG wrote: “He belongs in a looney-bin”

      But… Sebastian Gregerson is NOT crazy. He is obeying literally the 164 jihad verses in the Koran.

    • Jay Boo says

      Aug 31, 2016 at 12:10 pm

      As Mortimer correctly pointed out:
      The root of the problem is not one crazy person.

      Islam belongs in a loony bin.

  4. jihad3tracker says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 9:17 am

    The Detroit New (from which Robert’s item comes) MIGHT BE sufficiently independent of mainstream cowardice to ACTUALLY PUBLISH responses to the article about this Muslim convert.

    How, as Robert writes above, many converts get the idea that subjugation and violence against Infidels is necessary to be a devout worshipper of Allah.

    So, why don’t some of send concise emails to that website and include a few choice verses from the Qur’an (especially Sura Nine) as proof of the command to jihad?

    • linnte says

      Aug 31, 2016 at 11:12 am

      Detroit, Dearborn, Battle Creek, Flint, Hamtramac, Traverse City, and nearly every other large city in Michigan are inundated with Muslim/Islam. To be honest, I think the Detroit News probably spoke closer to the truth in this one article because the Muslim convert is white. I am a Michigan native.

      It is my hope though, that maybe the Detroit News has finally taken a step above all other news media sources and Named that Tune! I especially enjoyed hearing that Islamic State views Western Imams as not real Muslims!

      • Allan says

        Aug 31, 2016 at 12:27 pm

        Traverse City, too, is inundated? So what have the brave members of the Michigan Militia been doing other than running around out in the sticks with their paintball guns and stocking up on 30 packs of beer in case the “SHTF”?

        I’m familiar also with some kooks who call their outfit the Hutaree. Just look at them: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hutaree&FORM=HDRSC2

        There they are, all dressed up in their favorite field cammo for a civil war which, if it comes, they couldn’t win without action in urban areas. How could the Muslims’ leaders in Michigan fail to laugh at that?

        • Rev g says

          Aug 31, 2016 at 1:50 pm

          I too was born and raised in Michigan, originally Dearborn.
          While in Traverse City all last week, we saw one hijab wearing muslim. Compared to metro Detroit, that is nothing. The wine industry around TC is thriving.
          Near our cottage on Saginaw bay I am only aware of one Arab family, Chaldeans who live downstate. Sadly, most larger cities do have mosques and muslims, even in the northern lower peninsula.
          Dearborn doesn’t have park rangers in parks, excepting Camp Dearborn, which is not in Dearborn.
          I have never been a part of the Michigan Militia but know a few members, do not believe everything the press tells you. The men I know are quite capable of fire and maneuver, and have taken part in real military ops. If the press and general populace wants to underestimate their abilities, they don’t mind a bit.

        • linnte says

          Aug 31, 2016 at 5:47 pm

          I suppose those cammo covered folks are actually waiting for the S++T to hit the fan. I didn’t even know they existed. I am in Oregon now, and we have many cammo wearing folks who understand the plight we are in today, and the potential for civil war.

  5. Angemon says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 11:29 am

    “Individuals drawn to (the Islamic State) don’t see prominent American Muslim religious leaders as legitimate,” he said. “They see them as sellouts.”

    B-b-but, the islamic state kills muslims and therefore they’re not islamic! You mean there’s actually a justification for that? I’m shocked! Shocked and appalled!! Shocked, appalled and aghast!!!

  6. Jay Boo says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 11:30 am

    So sad.
    This poor boy was lonely.

    He wanted to make friends so badly that he reached out to other narcissistic losers inside of the ideology of Islam. Islam is a system in which selfish losers form into quasi-friendships in which they bond together to hate others since they have no redeeming qualities or virtues of their own in which to attract and sustain any true friendships.

    No wonder so many Muslims will eagerly turn on each other like cannibalistic piranha when they run out of victims.

    So sad.

  7. John A. Marre says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 11:31 am

    Does conversion make them horribly ugly, or do they convert because they are disgustingly ugly and realize that they are misfits and not part of the human race?

    • Jay Boo says

      Aug 31, 2016 at 12:07 pm

      Both
      It is a symbiotic relationship.

  8. Jay Boo says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 12:05 pm

    Who is the enemy?

    The MSM went crazy after the Orlando bloodbath.
    Mental Case or Closet GAY
    The obvious answer is the one that which they refused to say.

    The Democrat Party sat on their hands to protest GUNS
    GUNS not MUSLIMS.
    Blind, deaf, DUMB

  9. davej says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    The Islamic ideology of hatred, violence, rape and slavery is. unsurprisingly, attractive to all criminals and psychopaths. Our prison system has become a factory for such converts, complete with official prison Imams, “prayer” rooms and access to the Koran and ISIS recruiting materials.

    We need to clean house or we will be overwhelmed by these sick bastards.

  10. VampireJack says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 12:19 pm

    Wait a minute, I’m confused.
    I’m white, and HE is also white.
    Hmmmmmm, and here’s me assuming my “islamophobia” was down to straight up racism. That’s what the media keeps telling me anyway.
    It’s as if skin tone has absolutely nothing at all with islam……..

    • linnte says

      Aug 31, 2016 at 5:44 pm

      Exactly. Which is why each and every one of us needs to ask, when called a racist or bigot, “What race is Islam”. Watch them stumble over their lying tongues!

  11. Veka Fitzfrancis says

    Aug 31, 2016 at 5:35 pm

    Anyone else wonder why the US (and Slick Willy) would want to import more unvetted muslims to Detroit in light of this?

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