Update: Derrick Shareef: Rockford, Ill Mall Was Alleged Target Of Attack

How special: What a mouthful as an alias - aka - "talib abu salam Ibn Shareef."

Shareef told the snitch that he sought "to disrupt Christmas," adding that, "I swear by Allah man, I'm down for it too, I'm down for the cause, I'm down to live for the cause and die for the cause, man." The document does not further describe the supposed cause of Shareef, who was named today in a federal felony complaint. Shareef is quoted telling the FBI source, "I probably would have eventually ended up stabbing the shit outta some Jews or something. Just stabbing them niggers with a steak knife...Because during that war with Hezbollah, man, I had already started to look at synagogues out here..." In advance of a planned attack on a Rockford mall, Shareef prepared a martyr's videotape in which he let the "enemies of Islam" know that "the time for jihad is now." He added, "This is a warning to those who disbelieve, that we are here for you, and I am ready to give my life...May Allah protect me on this mission we conduct." (11 pages)

Looks like it was Cherryvale Mall.

A man was arrested Friday by federal agents on charges of planning to set off hand grenades in garbage cans at a shopping mall.
Derrick Shareef, 22, of Rockford, was arrested when he met with an undercover agent in a parking lot to trade a set of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a handgun.

Federal officials said he planned to set off four hand grenades in garbage cans at the CherryVale shopping mall in Rockford, about 90 miles northwest of Chicago.

He was charged with one count of attempting to damage or destroy a building by fire or explosion and one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The man -- described as a U.S. citizen named Derrick Shareef -- faces charges for allegedly planning to set off hand grenades in garbage cans in malls during the holiday season.

Update: This is strange - assuming it was Cherryvale Mall in Rockford which was the target, take a look at what went down there in December of 2001:

"Other witnesses also said he had several canisters tied to his body. Officials said the canisters no longer pose a threat."

CHERRY VALLEY, Illinois (CNN) -- A 27-year-old man shouting "freedom" doused himself with gasoline at a crowded suburban Illinois mall Friday and set himself ablaze, authorities said.

Richard Lewis, a Rockford, Illinois, native, was in critical condition at Loyola University Medical Center after suffering burns over 40 percent of his body, said Sgt. Craig Wilt of the Cherry Valley Police Department.

Two shoppers suffered second-degree burns to their hands, Wilt said. They were treated and released. Another 8 to 12 people were treated for smoke inhalation.

Horrified shoppers at CherryVale Mall watched Lewis lean over a mezzanine railing, handcuff himself, and then burst into flames shouting, "Freedom!" The incident occurred around 8:20 a.m. (9:20 a.m. EST), just over two hours after the mall opened on Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

"When he started the fire, initially there was a pretty good ball of flames," Wilt said. "It appeared as if he was going to jump."

Thousands of people were in the mall, which serves the Rockford community in northern Illinois, when the incident occurred, Wilt said.

Shopper Neil Jansen heard shouting and looked up to see a man with one leg over the railing. "He went whoosh," Jansen said. "All you could see was flames … you couldn't see his face at all. He was burning up and you were kind of in disbelief that this was happening."

Lewis was transported from the mall to a local hospital, and then transferred to the burn center at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, near Chicago.

During the incident, a backpack containing three 16-ounce bottles filled with flammable liquids fell off Lewis's back and hit the mall floor below.

Police said Lewis would only tell them his first name and did not offer a motive. Lewis has no criminal background, Wilt said.

None of the mall's stores were damaged in the incident, added Wilt, but three or four stores closed for about two hours after the incident.

Cherryvale Mall is in Rockford, but it isn't clear that was the alleged target.

Reports are surfacing of an arrest said to be a lone actor with plans for an act of terrorism on a Rockford, Ill mall.

One report said he had the will but not the means, could be a crazy, a misguided teen. But a report did say it had NAtional Security implications. We'll see.

(CBS) CHICAGO A suspect has been arrested in an alleged terror plot that involves a Chicago target, sources tell CBS 2.

As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports from outside the courtroom of U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez, a source tells CBS 2 that a suspect was arrested in a case with national security implications.

Law enforcement officials say the man was a U.S. citizen, and planned to commit some sort of terrorist attack in Chicago. The man had "ideas and desires, but no means," law enforcement sources said.

A source said earlier that the alleged plot might have involved a shopping mall, but later information did not specify what the target was.

Law enforcement officials added that the alleged plot was not on the level of 9/11, and even "three rungs below" the recent Miami plot that was disrupted. That plot involved alleged plans to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower.

The man arrestred Friday is considered a lone operator without ties to any known terrorist organization, law enforcement sources said.

He has an appearance in Chicago's federal court at 11:45 a.m.

The U.S. Attorney's office said a written statement and comments from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI special-agent-in-charge Robert Grant will soon be provided.

Comments

[vie]

He sounds like Litvininko.

[Jenny]

Yeah - same mall. I live in this area. It's a pretty nice mall - Macy's, Bergners, JC Pennys, Sears, Starbucks.

[M. Simon]

My daughter is going to do a Christmas concert there next week with the Auburn High School Orchestra. She plays saxaphone.

I have a few things to say at Bomb Plot

http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2006/12/bomb-plot.html

including more about my daughter.

Consider this a track back.

[Steel]

Given the infatuation of this nation's public with celebrity/notoriety/media, I think this will become a trend among disaffected rogues seeking their moment of mention.

Prior to 9/11, Timothy McVeigh held sway in this arena.

Since then, there have been several unrelated apprehensions in areas unconnected by anything - save our media's saturation.

This is NOT a 'phenomena'. It is a symptom of a larger malaise.

These are NOT 'lone wolves'. They are examples of a much more pervasive and prevalent pathological behavior borne of a society that refuses to recognize 'wrong', 'bad', 'antisocial' and predatory proclivities as something to be corrected.

Those are to be 'addressed' and 'mitigated'.

But NEVER stopped, for that would deprive the individual of their 'rights'.

We will see more of this in the coming days and months.

To quote Rod Stewart, 'a wink is as good as a nod to blind horse.'

These malcontents WILL eventually be successful and their actions will be as, if not more, chilling to our society.

It matters little if an act of terror is funded by some offshore group, supported by Osama Bin Laden or is simply the thuggery of some pissed off dude from Rockport Illinois.

The resultant carnage is ... carnage, is it not?

I do not presume to know the solution.

But a good start would be a much higher level of domestic vigilance.

The Left will fight that. The very Right will resist that.

But that IS the only way to prevent such actions.

To think otherwise is to be D E L U S I O N A L.

It should be of some comfort for those of us who wish to nip this shit in the bud to realize, that this situation is NOT of our making.

It is this thing we must grasp soon - WAR.

WAR.

Like it or not, this is WAR.

I would suggest to anyone who disputes that simple fact, read up on
some history.

In war, extreme measures are called for, to do less is to invite certain doom.