A man who allegedly threatened to shoot up at least one Seattle-area mosque in online posts was arrested Tuesday afternoon after a brief standoff with police.
When police came to talk with the as-yet-unidentified 37-year-old man at his North Seattle apartment, he briefly barricaded himself in and refused to come out. But he eventually surrendered peacefully and was taken into custody.
The man allegedly made a few threats online against a mosque in the Northgate neighborhood. He threatened the Idris Mosque in one post and claimed that he’d purchased an assault rifle and ammunition to make good on the threat in another.
Someone tipped off the FBI and the FBI alerted local law enforcement, which took no chances. Seattle Police cleared the surrounding streets during the standoff to minimize any chance of casualties.
According to reports, it wasn’t the first time police had been in contact with the man about mosque threats. There was a threat against a mosque in nearby Redmond Monday, and he may have had some role in that.
Police Tuesday didn’t let him get anywhere near a mosque with a gun, if he has a gun, and posted patrol cars near the North Seattle mosque just to be safe.
A spokesman for the mosque told the Seattle Times that there was some concern about violence after the Orlando attack this weekend, especially during Ramadan. Yet, given the law enforcement response, he wasn’t overly worried.
“We are prepared. The best we can do is inform people,” the Idris spokesman said.
