Teenager Planned Drone Terrorist Attack During Phoenix Pride

PHOENIX (AZFamille) — An Arizona teenager is behind bars after authorities say he planned an ISIS-inspired attack using a remote-controlled explosive drone at the Phoenix Pride parade.

Marvin Aneer Jalo, 17, of Peoria, was arrested on October 18, the first day of a series of events celebrating LGBTQ+ pride in Phoenix, culminating with the annual parade on Sunday, October 20.

Jalo is charged as an adult with terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism, both class 2 felonies.

Investigators said Jalo began communicating on Internet chat rooms in 2023 with people he described as extremists who were recruiting him.

In one instance, Jalo allegedly said they could “bomb the 2024 Pride Parade and take over the United States.” He later said he was receiving supplies to make explosives.

A search warrant on Jalo’s phone revealed numerous photos of firearms and an instructional video showing an ISIS fighter making the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP).

Investigators said Jalo ordered the chemicals needed to make TATP through Amazon. They believed, based on his chat messages, that he was planning to create a “bomb drone” using a remote-controlled vehicle.

“I can tell you that this is an individual who indicates that he has very radical ideas. He is homophobic in his philosophy. He definitely took steps to develop something that would act as an explosive,” Maricopa County Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell said.

The criminal complaint against Jalo said he searched online for Phoenix Pride 2024 events and the Phoenix Pride Parade.

Jalo was arrested at his Peoria home on Friday, October 18. The Phoenix Pride Parade moved nonstop through the streets of central Phoenix, with Phoenix police providing security in the form of officers and barriers placed along the mile-long route. which ended at Steele Indian School Park where a festival was being held.

Several dignitaries were also on the route, including Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), who was grand marshal of the parade, and former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who attended with the Kamala Harris-Tim campaign Walz.

A Phoenix Pride spokesperson sent the following statement to Arizona’s family:

The Maricopa County Prosecutor’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Buckeye and Peoria police departments investigated the case.

“These are serious accusations. They carry mandatory prison sentences. And also, he signed a $1 million cash-only bond,” Mitchell said.

Federal government warned of ‘heightened threat environment’

Earlier this year, federal law enforcement officials sent out a bulletin warning of threats from federal terrorist organizations and their supporters during Pride Month 2024, which takes place in June. The Phoenix Pride celebration takes place in October due to the extreme heat that characterizes the traditional month of June.

The announcement from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security said foreign terrorist organizations and their supporters have “previously promoted anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and targeted LGBTQIA+-related events or locations for attacks.”

Major US cities, such as New York and Chicago, have increased security measures for their Pride celebrations in June.

This year marks eight years since a lone gunman walked into an Orlando nightclub and opened fire, killing 49 people. Authorities said the attack was greeted with pro-IS messages and celebrated by foreign terrorist organizations and their supporters.

In June 2023, three suspected ISIS sympathizers were arrested for a plot to attack the Pride parade in Vienna, Austria.

“Aspiring TERRORISTS ARE GETTING YOUNGER AND YOUNG”

The arrest of 17-year-old Jalo highlights a trend of teenagers being recruited or influenced by terrorist organizations.

Seamus Hughes researches extremism for the National Center for Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education (NCITE) and recently wrote for Lawfare in an article titled “The Kids Aren’t Okay,” in which he states that young people are increasingly recruited by extremist groups and the Internet is the key recruitment tool.

“You’re talking about individuals who are sort of forming a process of who they are and trying to make sense of the world. And they find this in an online echo chamber that says their extremist beliefs are acceptable,” Hughes said.

According to Hughes, federal authorities are limited in bringing terrorism-related charges against minors, and while federal agencies may be involved in the investigation, charges are brought at the state and local level. .

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