A Milwaukee man arrested on a charge of trying to
buy machine guns to carry out an attack on a
Masonic temple also wanted to travel to the Middle
East and kill Israelis but abandoned that plan as
unworkable, federal agents said in court
documents.
Federal prosecutors charged 23-year-old Samy
Mohamed Hamzeh on Tuesday with unlawfully
possessing a machine gun and receiving and
possessing firearms not registered to him.
The FBI recorded conversations between Hamzeh
and two federal informants talking about an attack
on a Masonic temple in Milwaukee, according to an
affidavit setting out the evidence against Hamzeh.
He and the two informants traveled to a gun range
on Jan. 19 and practiced with a pistol, the affidavit
said. Afterward they took a tour of a Masonic
temple, which federal authorities declined to
identify.
Masons are members of a fraternal organization
that carries out a variety of activities, including
charity work. Wisconsin has nearly 11,000 Masons
in 180 lodges, according to Frank Struble, grand
master of Free and Accepted Masons in Wisconsin.
The organization is not a religion.
According to the affidavit, agents were tipped off in
September that Hamzeh planned to travel to Israel
in October to attack Israeli soldiers and citizens in
the West Bank. He abandoned those plans due to
"family, financial and logistic reasons," the affidavit
said, but refocused his efforts on a domestic
attack.
Federal agents said that on Jan. 19 and into the
early morning of Jan. 20, Hamzeh discussed his
plans to attack the temple with the informants,
telling them they needed two more machine guns
— the group apparently already had one — and
silencers. They planned to station one person at
the temple's entrance while the other two went
through the building, killing everyone they saw.
They then planned to walk away from the scene as
if nothing had happened, the affidavit said.
"I am telling you, if this hit is executed, it
will be known all over the world ... all the
Mujahedeen will be talking and they will be
proud of us," Hamzeh said, according to the
affidavit.
Hamzeh added that he hoped to kill 30 people,
"because these 30 will terrify the world."
According to the affidavit, Hamzeh met with two
undercover FBI agents Monday.
They presented
him with two automatic machine guns and a
silencer. He paid for the weapons and silencer in
cash and put them in the trunk of his car, the
affidavit said. The agents then arrested him and
recovered the guns and silencer.
Hamzeh had been fired recently from his job as a
trainer at a downtown Milwaukee gym, said Delia
Luna, the owner of the9Round Kickbox Fitness.
She said he was "very intense, very militant" as a
trainer.
"He didn't mix well," Luna said.
A Milwaukee man arrested on a charge of trying to
buy machine guns to carry out an attack on a
Masonic temple also wanted to travel to the Middle
East and kill Israelis but abandoned that plan as
unworkable, federal agents said in court
documents.
Federal prosecutors charged 23-year-old Samy
Mohamed Hamzeh on Tuesday with unlawfully
possessing a machine gun and receiving and
possessing firearms not registered to him.
The FBI recorded conversations between Hamzeh
and two federal informants talking about an attack
on a Masonic temple in Milwaukee, according to an
affidavit setting out the evidence against Hamzeh.
He and the two informants traveled to a gun range
on Jan. 19 and practiced with a pistol, the affidavit
said. Afterward they took a tour of a Masonic
temple, which federal authorities declined to
identify.
Masons are members of a fraternal organization
that carries out a variety of activities, including
charity work. Wisconsin has nearly 11,000 Masons
in 180 lodges, according to Frank Struble, grand
master of Free and Accepted Masons in Wisconsin.
The organization is not a religion.
According to the affidavit, agents were tipped off in
September that Hamzeh planned to travel to Israel
in October to attack Israeli soldiers and citizens in
the West Bank. He abandoned those plans due to
"family, financial and logistic reasons," the affidavit
said, but refocused his efforts on a domestic
attack.
Federal agents said that on Jan. 19 and into the
early morning of Jan. 20, Hamzeh discussed his
plans to attack the temple with the informants,
telling them they needed two more machine guns
— the group apparently already had one — and
silencers. They planned to station one person at
the temple's entrance while the other two went
through the building, killing everyone they saw.
They then planned to walk away from the scene as
if nothing had happened, the affidavit said.
"I am telling you, if this hit is executed, it
will be known all over the world ... all the
Mujahedeen will be talking and they will be
proud of us," Hamzeh said, according to the
affidavit.
Hamzeh added that he hoped to kill 30 people,
"because these 30 will terrify the world."
According to the affidavit, Hamzeh met with two
undercover FBI agents Monday.
They presented
him with two automatic machine guns and a
silencer. He paid for the weapons and silencer in
cash and put them in the trunk of his car, the
affidavit said. The agents then arrested him and
recovered the guns and silencer.
Hamzeh had been fired recently from his job as a
trainer at a downtown Milwaukee gym, said Delia
Luna, the owner of the9Round Kickbox Fitness.
She said he was "very intense, very militant" as a
trainer.
"He didn't mix well," Luna said.
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