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Mother of man accused in shooting plot says FBI set him up

Samy Mohamed Hamzeh is seen in an undated photo provided by the Waukesha County (Wis.) Sheriff’s Department. Federal prosecutors charged 23-year-old Samy Mohamed Hamzeh on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016, with unlawfully possessing a machine gun and receiving and possessing firearms not registered to him. Federal agents said Tuesday that Mohamed Hamzeh wanted to storm a Masonic temple with a machine gun and kill at least 30 people in an attack he hoped would show "nobody can play with Muslims" and spark more mass shootings in the United States. (Waukesha County (Wis.) Sheriff’s Department via AP)
Samy Mohamed Hamzeh is seen in an undated photo provided by the Waukesha County (Wis.) Sheriff’s Department. Federal prosecutors charged 23-year-old Samy Mohamed Hamzeh on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016, with unlawfully possessing a machine gun and receiving and possessing firearms not registered to him. Federal agents said Tuesday that Mohamed Hamzeh wanted to storm a Masonic temple with a machine gun and kill at least 30 people in an attack he hoped would show "nobody can play with Muslims" and spark more mass shootings in the United States. (Waukesha County (Wis.) Sheriff’s Department via AP) Samy Mohamed Hamzeh is seen in an undated photo provided by the Waukesha County (Wis.) Sheriff’s Department. Federal prosecutors charged 23-year-old Samy Mohamed Hamzeh on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016, with unlawfully possessing a machine gun and receiving and possessing firearms not registered to him. Federal agents said Tuesday that Mohamed Hamzeh wanted to storm a Masonic temple with a machine gun and kill at least 30 people in an attack he hoped would show "nobody can play with Muslims" and spark more mass shootings in the United States. (Waukesha County (Wis.) Sheriff’s Department via AP)

By Associated Press 1 min read

MILWAUKEE (AP) – The mother of a man accused of planning a mass shooting at a Masonic temple in Milwaukee says her son was set up by the FBI.

Khawla Hamzeh says that despite a criminal complaint describing Samy Mohamed Hamzeh as a Muslim extremist, her 23-year-old son is immature, not very religious and was just trying to convince his friends he was tough.

Samy Mohamed Hamzeh is charged with unlawfully possessing a machine gun and receiving and possessing improperly registered firearms.

His mother told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1TpM66E ) that she wonders why the FBI watched Hamzeh for months without arresting him, and then sold him guns.

Wisconsin’s top federal defender says Hamzeh’s defense will likely focus on the accuracy of undercover recordings that were made in Arabic and translated into English.