A New York woman plotted to bomb the state Capitol in Albany after pledging allegiance to ISIS and celebrating the 9/11 terror attacks, the FBI said Thursday.
Jessica Bowie, 35, from Albany, allegedly began strategizing the attack in July — and planned to place the bomb in a DoorDash food delivery bag, taking apparent glee in the bloodshed it would cause,the feds wrote in a criminal complaint.
“Blowing kafirs [non-Muslims] brains out is beautiful,” she told someone who turned out to be an FBI informant, the complaint said.
She allegedly purchased bomb materials from a Home Depot on Aug. 5 and planned the attack with the help of FBI informants for two weeks, the feds said.
Bowie, who converted to Islam five years ago and was going by the Islamic honorific name “Aisha Saif,” also allegedly tracked the Capitol building for weeks, taking pictures from various vantage points including an “observation hall nearby,” according to the complaint.
She sent one of the informants pictures of Downtown Albany with the Capitol circled, indicating it was the building she wanted to target, telling them she would do it on a “day when we know Senators will be meeting,” according to the FBI.
In a message, she said she wanted to “Target my State Capitol… ideally in a way I could get away with and hop on a plane after,” the complaint said.
The ISIS-inspired militant planned to escape to Syria after the attack, according to the feds.
A search of Bowie’s social media revealed many fanatical pro-radical Islamist and anti-American posts in the weeks leading up to her planned attack, according to the complaint.
On May 28, an account linked to Bowie posted, “Praise be to Allah for September 11th,” according to the FBI complaint.
On May 8, another account believed to be Bowie told another user in Arabic, “I will poison these infidels,” the complaint alleges.
She also discussed her belief that “jihad is an obligation,” and recorded herself reciting a pledge of allegiance to ISIS, according to the FBI.
The FBI informants met Bowie Wednesday and gave her an inert explosive device and an inert handgun, along with instructions on how to detonate the bomb, the complaint said.
She was soon arrested and appeared to offer a partial confession during her interview with FBI agents, according to the complaint.
“There’s no helping me, you guys know enough, there’s no helping me, I’m…going to prison for the rest of my life,” she allegedly said.
“Material support is up to 20 years in prison, I already Googled it before, I know I’m going to jail.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul thanked the FBI and law enforcement in thwarting the possible attack in a statement Thursday.1.3K
“Earlier this year, amid a rise in political violence and threats against public officials, we took steps to strengthen security at the State Capitol and across state government,” she said.
“While there is no immediate threat at this time, we will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners to protect New Yorkers and keep our communities safe.”