Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

FBI accuses local man of plotting jihad

Sarah Ramsey
/
WVXU

The FBI says it's arrested a man from a Cincinnati suburb, and charged him with planning an attack on the US Capitol building.  

Twenty-year-old Christopher Lee Cornell of Green Township is charged with attempting to kill US government officers, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of attempted crime of violence.According to a complaint from the FBI, Cornell expressed support online for ISIL, and called for a jihad in the United States.  That complaint says an informer agreed to work with the FBI in exchange for consideration in his own criminal case. Investigators say Cornell told the informer he could make explosives and wanted guns to stage an attack in Washington.

The FBI says Cornell claimed he had been in contact with persons overseas and did not think he would receive specific authorization to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States.

The complaint filed with a US District Court also says Cornell allegedly told the informant, "I believe that we should just wage jihad under our own orders and plan attacks and everything."Federal and local officers Wednesday arrested Cornell as he bought two semi-automatic rifles. He's been charged in US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.