FBI Arrests McKinney Teen in Alleged ISIS-Inspired Plot to Kill Congressman Keith Self
A 17-year-old from McKinney is in federal custody, accused of plotting to kill U.S. Rep. Keith Self in an attack on behalf of the Islamic State, Gov. Greg Abbott said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested a 17-year-old from McKinney accused of plotting to assassinate U.S. Rep. Keith Self and carry out a terrorist attack on behalf of the Islamic State, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday.
The teen was arrested on October 5 and remains in federal custody, according to the governor’s office. His name has not been released.
“The FBI stopped this radical Islamic terrorist before he could strike,” Abbott said. “Radical Islamic terrorism has no place in Texas. We will combat radical Islam in all forms and eliminate every threat it poses.”
The Texas Department of Public Safety will keep working with federal law enforcement “to disrupt these threats and protect Texans,” the governor’s office said.
The alleged target
Self’s team learned of the arrest from the U.S. Capitol Police on October 6, his campaign manager told NBC 5. Investigators told Self’s team that the teen had been radicalized, that federal agents were watching him and that he planned to target Self at a chili cook-off fundraiser for veterans on October 17, according to NBC 5.
WFAA reported that agents arrested the teen after he obtained a firearm and that investigators believed he found Islamic State material online.
The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office have not commented publicly. Because the suspect is a juvenile, the charges and court records have not been made public.
Self: “I will not back down”
Self, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who represents the 3rd Congressional District, said he and his family are safe and thanked the FBI and other officers. He went to the October 17 event as planned.
“I judged 19 different chilies and three different pots of beans,” Self told NBC 5. “It was a delightful time and nothing, of course, happened.”
“This only strengthens my resolve. I will not back down,” Self wrote in a statement on Facebook.
“This will not deter me from what I think I need to be doing to alert the American people to this political ideology,” he told NBC 5. “We will continue to do our job.”
See more of the Partisan in Google’s Top Stories.Add as a Preferred Source on Google
Read Next
Federal Appeals Court Pulls Dallas Judge Ada Brown’s Cases and Demands Answers
The Fifth Circuit's judicial council reassigned Dallas federal Judge Ada Brown's cases and ordered her to explain why she sent confidential and sealed files to about 140 people.
