Law enforcement seek to reassure immigrants of their safety

FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson talks about the FBI's roll in stopping a bomb plot. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall (left) announced Friday a major federal investigation stopped a domestic terrorism plot by a militia group to detonate a bomb at a Garden City apartment complex where a number of Somalis live.Two Liberal men and a Dodge City resident were arrested and charged in federal court with domestic terrorism charges, Beall told reporters at a news conference in downtown Wichita. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP) FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson talks about the FBI's roll in stopping a bomb plot. Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall (left) announced Friday a major federal investigation stopped a domestic terrorism plot by a militia group to detonate a bomb at a Garden City apartment complex where a number of Somalis live.Two Liberal men and a Dodge City resident were arrested and charged in federal court with domestic terrorism charges, Beall told reporters at a news conference in downtown Wichita. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP)

By Associated Press October 15, 2016 3 min read

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) – Law enforcement sought Saturday to reassure immigrants in a diverse western Kansas community of their safety after three men were accused of plotting to target Somali immigrants there.

A complaint unsealed Friday charged Curtis Wayne Allen, 49; Patrick Eugene Stein, 47; and Gavin Wayne Wright, 49, with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in Garden City. The men are members of a small militia group that calls itself “the Crusaders,” and whose members espouse sovereign citizen, anti-government, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant extremist beliefs, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors said the men don’t yet have attorneys.

The suspects planned to detonate truck bombs around a small apartment complex where about 120 Somali residents live, according to the complaint. Prosecutors also said the men talked about attacking some of the area churches that have helped settle refugees and helped them get jobs at Tyson Foods, the meat packing company that has drawn a diverse immigrant population to the area.

Hundreds of Somalians, Malaysians, Burmese and others gathered around FBI agents and law enforcement officers for a briefing early Saturday, The Wichita Eagle reported (http://j.mp/2e3IDfM).