FBI foils Christmas attack plot at San Francisco’s Pier 39

World
Europe

Just days before Christmas, a man in California was arrested and charged with a plot to mount an attack on a popular San Francisco landmark. According to the complaint against the former US Marine, it was to be an Islamist-inspired attack, for which he was prepared to die.

FBI agents arrested 26-year-old former Marine Everitt Aaron Jameson, charging him with "attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization". He faces 20 years in prison, if convicted.

When searching Jameson’s home, the FBI found what it called a martyr’s letter, fireworks, two rifles and a handgun.

Jameson had been talking to a man whom he believed to be associated with ISIL, but was in fact an undercover FBI agent. In recorded conversations, Jameson allegedly said that he wanted to attack San Francisco’s famous Pier 39, a zone of restaurants and bars, because it would be crowded.

The Coit Tower & Transamerica Pyramid seen from Pier 39 at San Francisco Fisherman Wharf on October 18, 2017. /VCG Photo

Jameson allegedly said that Christmas was the perfect day for such an attack and that he was ready to die in the plan. A convert to Islam, he was discharged from the Marines back in 2009.

The FBI nearly tipped the young man off when an agent accidentally called Jameson last Monday.

When Jameson answered the call in Arabic, the agent hung up. Jameson phoned back and heard the agent’s voicemail greeting, saying that they worked for a federal agency without naming the FBI. This caused Jameson to try to back out of the plot, telling the undercover agent Monday that he could not carry out the attacks.

Jameson is denying the allegations. His father, Gordon Jameson, insisted that his son is innocent.

"It’s just really unbelievable. It’s just hard to fathom right now," he said. "I don’t really know what to say, how to feel, really. It’s just shocking. That’s my son. Never saw it coming, not at once."

The FBI says that it began tracking Jameson back in September. An informant alerted them to Jameson’s online behavior, which included supporting posts justifying Islamic terrorism.