Illinois Man Arrested in Alleged Bomb Plot

US News • Views: 3,167

In Illinois, another plot to commit mass murder foiled long in advance by authorities: Alleged would-be bomber described as humble, polite.

Over the two years that authorities tracked Michael C. Finton, accused Thursday of trying to bomb Springfield’s federal courthouse, they gave Finton plenty of chances to drop the idea. …

Authorities say Finton tried Wednesday to ignite what he thought was a huge quantity of explosives contained in a van parked near Sixth and Monroe streets. Finton allegedly expected the resulting blast to kill everyone in the Paul Findley Federal Building, plus “take out” an office of U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock across the intersection.

As it turned out, however, law enforcement authorities had been aware of Finton’s plans for more than two years, the affidavit said. As a result, a man Finton allegedly thought was a low-level operative of the al-Qaida terror network was actually an undercover FBI special agent, and there were no explosives in the van.

Instead of the van blowing up when Finton dialed a cell phone number, agents swooped in to arrest him.

On Thursday, Finton, who authorities said also used the name “Talib Islam,” was brought before a federal judge in the same building he allegedly had targeted.

Jump to top

Create a PageThis is the LGF Pages posting bookmarklet. To use it, drag this button to your browser's bookmark bar, and title it 'LGF Pages' (or whatever you like). Then browse to a site you want to post, select some text on the page to use for a quote, click the bookmarklet, and the Pages posting window will appear with the title, text, and any embedded video or audio files already filled in, ready to go.
Or... you can just click this button to open the Pages posting window right away.
Last updated: 2023-04-04 11:11 am PDT
LGF User's Guide RSS Feeds

Help support Little Green Footballs!

Subscribe now for ad-free access!Register and sign in to a free LGF account before subscribing, and your ad-free access will be automatically enabled.

Donate with
PayPal
Cash.app
Recent PagesClick to refresh