By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-862382.mp3
Dallas, TX –
A teenager from Jordan is under arrest for trying to bomb a downtown Dallas office building. KERA's BJ Austin reports.
19 year old Hosam Maher Husein Smadi will be in court this morning after a failed attempt to BOMB the 60-story, glass Fountain Place building on Ross Avenue downtown.
FBI officials say he drove a car with what he thought was a bomb in it into the parking garage of Fountain Place yesterday afternoon. Undercover FBI agents had made sure the device was "inert." Smadi was arrested a few blocks away, after he dialed the cellphone that was supposed to detonate the bomb. He had been under FBI surveillance for some time after drawing attention to himself in an online extremist group.
Former Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Danny Defenbaugh says this was "great work" on the part of law enforcement. And should be a lesson to us all.
Defenbaugh: to realize that it's not over. It still takes public reaction. You've got to know if you feel something or you see something that gives you that queasy feeling in your stomach, you need to make sure that law enforcement is notified. Let them respond, because it's obvious that they can handle the situation.
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert says he was aware of the threat and says "it's a troubling sign of the world we all live in today." The Mayor says thanks to the effort of the FBI, no one was ever in danger.
Smadi is in this country illegally. He lived and worked in Italy - south of Waxahachie.