The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

Man Pleads Guilty To Plotting ISIL-Related Attack On Joliet Base

By Mae Rice in News on Dec 9, 2015 7:55PM

JonasEdmonds.jpg
Jonas Edmonds, who pled guilty to aiding ISIL today (Georgia Department of Corrections)
One of the two Aurora men charged with planning an attack on Joliet’s Illinois National Guard base has pled guilty to providing material support and resources to ISIL and making a false statement to the FBI. Jonas Edmonds’ cousin and alleged conspirator, Hasan Edmonds, will likely plead guilty on Monday, the Sun-Times reports.

The FBI arrested Jonas in March of this year at his home in Aurora, two hours after Hasan was arrested at Midway Airport. Hasan was trying to fly to Cairo and join overseas terrorist fighters, the Tribune reported.

The cousins’ elaborate attack plot would have gone into motion after Hasan left Chicago. Hasan had been a member of the Illinois National Guard; during the attack, Jonas would disguise himself in Hasan’s uniform and use AK-47s and grenades to kill more than 100 soldiers on the base, specifically targeting officers Hasan had selected, according to the Tribune’s account.

The FBI intervened before the attack, thanks in part to a Facebook message exchange between Hasan and an undercover agent. In it Hasan wrote, according to the Sun-Times: “I pray to just one time step foot in the land ruled by the Law of the Quran but I am content to fight and die here in the cause of Allah whenever the target is set and the order is given. InshaAllah my brothers will march with me as well.”

Their family’s reaction has been uniformly baffled since their arrest.

“Two of our family members have completely went berserk,” the cousins’ grandmother, Lubertha Bates, told the Sun-Times.