WASHINGTON (AP) — An Ohio man who prosecutors say professed online support for the Islamic State was arrested Thursday and charged with soliciting the killings of U.S. service members, the Justice Department said.
Federal prosecutors say 25-year-old Terrence McNeil of Akron reposted names and addresses of dozens of service members and called for online followers to take the "final step" and kill them.
McNeil appeared Thursday in federal court in Ohio on a charge of solicitation of a crime of violence. His lawyer, Nathan Ray, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
A federal affidavit filed in the case accuses McNeil of repeatedly exhorting violent action online over the last year and a half, saying in one May 2014 post that "I can't wait for another 9/11, Boston bombing, or Sandy Hook!!!"
At another point, federal authorities allege, he suggested that "Somebody should park a car bomb in front of a church, school, or mall."
More recently, prosecutors say, McNeil posted on his Tumblr account that "until our brothers and sisters are free from imprisonment, harassment, torture, bombs, and bullets American will bleed inshallah," using the Arabic for "God willing." He also offered online praise for the gunman involved in the deadly July shootings of Marines at a military installation in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the affidavit states.
The Justice Department has prosecuted dozens of Islamic State supporters in the last year, mostly for providing material support to the terrorist organization. But this case was brought under a different legal theory, accusing a defendant of using social media networks to incite others to violence. While the complaint included dozens of examples of postings by McNeil of material he himself wrote or created, the posting on which the charge centers was a Tumblr "reblog," an action that can be taken with relatively little effort by clicking an icon that shares a post on your personal page.
In September, authorities say, McNeil used his Tumbler account to reblog a file with the banner "Islamic State Hacking Division" followed by "Target: United States Military" and "Leak: Addresses of 100 US Military Personnel."
The file includes a message that tells followers to "take the final step" and "kill them in their own lands, behead them in their own homes, stab them to death as they walk their streets thinking that they are safe..."
The file loops several dozen photos of purported US military personnel with their names, addresses and military branch. The last photo is a handgun and a knife with text that reads "...and kill them wherever you find them..."
More than any other terrorist group, the Islamic State has used social media to crowdsource its radicalization and recruitment. The White House's efforts to counter that have focused heavily on social media, teaming with YouTube, Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
In announcing the case, federal authorities maintained that McNeil's actions went well beyond constitutionally protected speech.
"While we aggressively defend First Amendment rights, the individual arrested went far beyond free speech by reposting names and addresses of 100 U.S. service members, all with the intent to have them killed," Stephen Anthony, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Cleveland field office, said in a statement.
