Florida Man Arrested for Attempting to Get ISIS to Attack His Former College Deans

A Florida man has been arrested for attempting to solicit ISIS to attack deans at the colleges he previously attended.

Salman Rashid, 23, of North Miami Beach, has been under investigation by the FBI since April 2018 over Facebook posts which advocated for the violent overthrow of democracy and the establishment of Islamic law. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Florida said in a statement that in May of this year, Rashid solicited a confidential human source to contact members of ISIS and instruct those ISIS members to conduct a terrorist attack on his behalf.

“Rashid continued to instruct the confidential source regarding Rashid’s requested attack, indicating an attack on a religious building or nightclub would be suitable. Based on Rashid’s request, the FBI introduced an additional confidential human source, who held him/herself out to be a member of ISIS willing to conduct an attack,” the statement from the US Attorney’s Office explained.

In early November, Rashid specified two people he wanted to target, a dean at Miami-Dade College and a dean at Broward College, both being schools he had been suspended or expelled from. He asked what he believed to be a terrorist to place explosive devices that would create the largest blast possible and provided information about the locations and his assessment of the security on the campuses.

 

On Monday, Rashid appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Chris M. McAliley. If convicted, he faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His pretrial detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, November 27, 2019 at 10 a.m.