A New York state man reportedly built a 200-pound bomb and planned to detonate it on Election Day on the National Mall in in Washington D.C.
According to Yahoo News, 56-year-old Paul Rosenfeld intended to kill himself in the explosion in order to draw attention to his political beliefs, prosecutors said.
“Rosenfeld concocted a twisted plan to draw attention to his political ideology by killing himself on the National Mall in Washington, D.C — risking harm to many others in the process,” Geoffrey Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.
Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. added, “Had he been successful, Rosenfeld’s alleged plot could have claimed the lives of innocent bystanders and caused untold destruction. Fortunately, his plans were thwarted by the quick action of a concerned citizen and the diligent work of a host of our law enforcement partners and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.”
Rosenfeld has been charged with one count of unlawfully manufacturing a destructive device, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and one count of interstate transportation and receipt of an explosive, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
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