Jihadist terror plot against Los Angeles thwarted

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U.S. Army veteran was plotting a large-scale terror attack in Los Angeles as revenge for the mass shootings at two mosques in New Zealand, according to court papers released Monday.

Mark Steven Domingo, 26, boasted about amassing an arsenal of weapons, including 80 pounds of nails for a bomb, to carry out the attack in retaliation for the killing of Muslims by a white supremacist in the city of Christchurch, according to an affidavit supporting the criminal complaint.

He was arrested April 26 after he received what he thought was a live bomb but was, in fact, a phony explosive device supplied by an FBI informant, authorities said.

"There were mosque shootings in new Zealand," Domingo posted to a private group online after the shootings, according to federal prosecutors. "[T]here must be retribution."

Domingo allegedly added: "I feel like I should make a christians life miserable tomorrow for our fallen bros n sis in [N]ew Zealand...maybe a jews life...they shed our blood...no Muslim should have to experience this, a message needs to be sent."

An FBI informant, who was already in the private message group along with an FBI "online covert employee," made contact with Domingo two days later, the affidavit says.

Over six weeks of plotting with the informant, Domingo fantasized about murdering a laundry list of perceived enemies, including Christians, Jews, white supremacists, police officers, even his next-door neighbor.

Domingo, who expressed his support for the Islamic State militant group, showed up to one meeting with the FBI source armed with a rifle similar to an AK-47, the affidavit says. As the plans developed to detonating a bomb, Domingo purchased the three-inch nails "because they would be long enough to penetrate the human body and puncture internal organs,” the court papers say.

Domingo, of Reseda, was arrested as he was moving forward with plans to attack a "white nationalist rally" in Huntington Beach on April 27, according to federal prosecutors.

This investigation successfully disrupted a very real threat posed by a trained combat soldier who repeatedly stated he wanted to cause the maximum number of casualties," Nick Hanna, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said.