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US: Man inspired by Islamic State group planned truck attack near DC

FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2016, file photo, children play on J. Seward Johnson's sculpture, "The Awakening," along the Potomac River waterfront at National Harbor, Md. Federal prosecutors say a man inspired by the Islamic State group stole a U-Haul truck with plans to drive it into a crowd at National Harbor, a convention and tourist destination just outside the nation's capital. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2016, file photo, children play on J. Seward Johnson's sculpture, "The Awakening," along the Potomac River waterfront at National Harbor, Md. Federal prosecutors say a man inspired by the Islamic State group stole a U-Haul truck with plans to drive it into a crowd at National Harbor, a convention and tourist destination just outside the nation's capital. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) FILE - In this Sept. 3, 2016, file photo, children play on J. Seward Johnson's sculpture, "The Awakening," along the Potomac River waterfront at National Harbor, Md. Federal prosecutors say a man inspired by the Islamic State group stole a U-Haul truck with plans to drive it into a crowd at National Harbor, a convention and tourist destination just outside the nation's capital. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

By Associated Press 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Maryland man inspired by the Islamic State group plotted to ram a stolen U-Haul truck into as many pedestrians as possible at a popular convention and tourist destination just outside the nation’s capital, federal prosecutors said Monday.

The allegation was made in a court filing as prosecutors in Maryland urged a judge to keep the defendant, 28-year-old Rondell Henry, detained on a charge of driving a stolen vehicle across state lines. The police arrested him on March 28 after officers who discovered the stolen truck saw him leap over a security fence.

Henry then made incriminating statements that show steps he took to maximize damage, prosecutors say.

“I was just going to keep driving and driving and driving. I wasn’t going to stop,” the document quotes Henry as telling law enforcement authorities who questioned him. He said he wanted to create “panic and chaos” similar to a deadly truck attack that killed scores of people in Nice, France, in 2016, prosecutors say.

After his arrest by local law enforcement, Henry was taken for a psychiatric evaluation and was then taken into FBI custody once that was done, said a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.