RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) 鈥� Two young people have been arrested in an alleged plot to attack a Texas synagogue that involved driving through the congregation to 鈥渒ill as many Jews as possible,鈥� according to authorities and court documents.
The arrests come a month after an armed man into a major Detroit-area synagogue in another attack on Jewish people. Synagogues around the world have increased security and protections for worshippers since the U.S. and Israel launched a on Feb. 28.
Angelina Han Hicks, 18, of Lexington, North Carolina, was being held Thursday in the Davidson County jail under a $10 million bond, jail records show. She was arrested Wednesday and formally charged with conspiring with two “male subjects” to commit murder and assault against members of Congregation Beth Israel in Houston on April 21, 2028, according to warrants laying out two felony counts against her.
The FBI office in Charlotte said Thursday in a social media post that a juvenile was arrested in relation to the plot and charged in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston. There was no immediate information on whether the juvenile was one of the two male subjects identified in Hicks鈥� warrants, which listed only their first names and noted their last names as 鈥渦nknown.鈥�
A Houston Police Department news release on Thursday announced a 16-year-old being arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder related to 鈥渁 threat directed towards certain Jewish institutions in our area鈥� that the agency learned about Wednesday. The department didn’t identify Congregation Beth Israel specifically. The FBI and the Houston school district police department assisted in the arrest.
鈥淎t this time, there is no other known credible threat,鈥� the release said.
Explaining why Hicks鈥� detention was necessary, District Court Judge Carlton Terry wrote Wednesday in part that the alleged 鈥渃onspiracy is to kill as many Jews as possible by driving through a congregation at a synagogue.鈥�
鈥淎llowing a co-conspirator a chance to communicate with either of those individuals or those who could relay a message puts lives at risk,鈥� Terry added.
The FBI said its Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force began the investigation Tuesday evening after a tip to a North Carolina law enforcement agency.
While Hicks’ warrants point to a potential attack two years from now, Alan Martin 鈥� a senior assistant district attorney covering Davidson County 鈥� said in an interview that there had been 鈥渟ome concern that there could be an imminent event鈥� targeting the Houston synagogue. A potential motive for the planned violence wasn鈥檛 immediately disclosed in North Carolina court documents. The investigation is continuing.
Attempts to speak by phone with Hicks鈥� court-appointed attorney were unsuccessful Thursday. The lawyer, Chad Freeman, that the case was in its early stages and Hicks’ youth could be a factor in her defense.
鈥淚 anticipate getting numerous experts involved in the case to look at both investigatory and possible forensic matters,鈥� Freeman told the newspaper. Her next scheduled hearing is May 13.
Congregational Beth Israel is the in Texas, founded in the 1850s. It also operates a school going up to fifth grade. The Charlotte FBI鈥檚 social media post Thursday mentioned an alleged planned attack at a Jewish school.
The potential threats communicated to congregation leadership by Houston police prompted Beth Israel to close on Wednesday 鈥渙ut of an abundance of caution,鈥� the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston wrote in a social media post. The campus reopened Thursday, the federation said.
鈥淭he safety and security of the Houston Jewish community is of utmost importance to all of us,鈥� the federation wrote.
Lexington is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Raleigh.
The FBI said Ayman Ghazali sought to inflict as much damage as he could on Jewish people when he drove his pickup truck March 12 into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Ghazali, 41, was armed when the truck smashed through doors and into the hallway of an early childhood education area, striking a security guard. He then exchanged gunfire with another guard before fatally shooting himself. No one else among the 150 children and staff was injured.
Ghazali, a Lebanese-born man who was a U.S. citizen, had learned a week before the attack that were killed in an Israeli airstrike in his native country.
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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan, contributed to this report.
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