WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Justice Department has announced charges against five men who were arrested for an alleged plot to carry out an attack at a White House event at the weekend.
According to FBI, the accused were planning to kill government officials and others attending the Ultimate Fighting Championship Freedom 250 event held at the White House on Sunday.
The FBI launched an investigation into the plot and identified a group of conspirators who procured weapons and made plans to carry out the attack. The intelligence agents made arrests over the weekend in Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, and California. The investigation remains ongoing.
FBI Director Kash Patel said that four days ahead of the scheduled White House event, FBI and its law enforcement partners became aware of a potential threat to the UFC America 250 event in Washington, D.C. involving individuals outside of the National Capital Region.
'And thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,' the FBI chief said in a press release.
The U.S. Secret Service Director Sean M Curran said, 'The landscape has changed, and as a result we have seen a dramatic rise in threats against the President of the United States and the White House grounds.'
According to the charges, Tycen C. Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio; Bryan Omar Roa, 24, of Calimesa, California; Michael Alan Thomas, 32, of Pinon Hills, California; Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Missouri; and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31, of Omaha, Nebraska, conspired to plan and execute a mass casualty event targeting U.S. officials attending the UFC Freedom 250 hosted on the White House grounds. The conspirators allegedly planned to deploy explosives-drones in and around the UFC Freedom 250 event to force an evacuation of the event and then planned to deploy snipers to fire upon 'high value targets' within the fleeing crowd.
According to filed complaints in the Southern District of Ohio, the Western District of Missouri, the District of Nebraska, and the Central District of California, Proper admitted to investigators that members of the group who wanted to participate in the attack began communicating with each other around March.
Proper allegedly amassed firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and tactical gear at his home in Ohio, and he identified potential targets, including multiple members of Congress.
If convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the Department of Justice.
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