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Mosque bombing suspects indicted on weapons charges

April 5, 2018 at 3:58AM
This undated photo provided by The Ford County Sheriff's Office in Paxton, Ill., shows Michael McWhorter. McWhorter, is one of three men charged in the bombing of a Minnesota mosque in 2017. They allegedly intended for the attack to scare Muslims into leaving the U.S. McWhorter, Joe Morris and purported ringleader Michael Hari, are accused of traveling from rural Clarence, Ill., to carry out the pipe-bomb assault on the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minn. (Ford County Sheriff's Of
McWhorter (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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URBANA, Ill. – A federal grand jury in central Illinois has indicted three men suspected of bombing a Minnesota mosque on a charge of possessing a machine gun. A fourth man not linked to the bombing was also indicted.

Michael Hari, 47; Michael McWhorter, 29; Joe Morris, 22; and Ellis Mack, 18, were arrested on March 13 on the weapons charge. On the same day, Hari, McWhorter and Morris, all of Clarence, Ill., were charged in Minnesota with bombing the Dar al Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington last August. The explosion caused fire damage, but no injuries.

Wednesday's indictment alleges the four men possessed a machine gun from October 2017 through Feb. 27, 2018.

U.S. attorney spokeswoman Sharon Paul says the dates of their initial appearances on the indictment have yet to be determined. It wasn't immediately known if the four have attorneys to comment on their behalf.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

This undated photo provided by The Ford County Sheriff's Office in Paxton, Ill., shows Michael Hari. Hari, is the purported ringleader in the 2017 bombing of a Minnesota mosque. Hari allegedly intended for the attack to scare Muslims into leaving the U.S. He and two associates Michael McWhorter, and Joe Morris are accused of traveling from rural Clarence, Ill., to carry out the pipe-bomb assault on the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minn. (Ford County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Hari (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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