April 15, 2010, - 1:46 pm
Islamic Dry Run in Pittsburgh School?
I told you about Mana Saleh Almanajam and Shaker Mohsen, Muslim “college students” here on visas, who conducted an apparent dry run on a Tampa, Florida school bus. They got on the bus in trenchcoats on a sweltering hot Florida day, and they refused to get off. The two Arab Muslim men, here on Saudi Arabian-sponsored scholarships, were never even prosecuted. And before that, in 2003, a Muslim couple entered several Baltimore area Jewish schools and synagogues, filming them, and sending the tapes to Saudi Arabia. Clearly they were casing the joints for terrorist attacks.
Aaron Mohamed Lied to Get Through Security, Sneak Gun into School
And now there’s this from last night:
A 23-year-old man was under arrest after police said he entered the Creative and Performing Arts school building Downtown with a gun and alcohol and then injured a security guard as he tried to escape school grounds.
Aaron Darrand Mohamed was scheduled to be arraigned sometime today on charges of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, criminal trespass, possessing a weapon, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of a weapon on school grounds.
School officials said they were still investigating how the man got into the building when he came through an entrance guarded by a school security guard. He entered through the school’s main entrance on Ninth Street.
“The gentlemen came through an entrance where there was security,” said Pittsburgh Public Schools spokeswoman Ebony Pugh. “We just are investigating how he was able to get through with the weapon.”
“The gentleman”?! Ha. I guess that’s like “my esteemed colleague.”
According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Mohamed came to the school’s entrance and told Alfonso Roberts, a security guard, that he was there to pick up a relative for an early dismissal. . . .
Mr. Roberts told Mr. Mohamed to remain at the entrance while he “went to verify the dismissal was legitimate.” When he returned to the entrance, Mr. Mohamed was gone.
Later, student Christopher Olds encountered Mr. Mohamed in the men’s bathroom on the building’s first floor. Christopher told police the man “appeared jumpy and kinda scared me,” the criminal complaint said. Christopher then said he saw Mr. Mohamed pick up a gun off of the bathroom sink and leave.
The student immediately notified a janitor who told security guards. Mr. Roberts again approached Mr. Mohamed and brought him into the security office. While Mr. Mohamed was being searched, a silver firearm fell to the ground. Mr. Mohamed immediately fled, heading for an exit on the Fort Duquesne Boulevard side of the building.
Mr. Roberts caught up to him, and a struggle ensued. The men eventually crashed through a glass door and ended up struggling on the sidewalk. A passer-by saw the two men and helped Mr. Jones detain Mr. Mohamed.
Mr. Roberts had to be taken to Allegheny General Hospital to be treated for cuts.
It was later determined that Mr. Mohamed was carrying a .38-caliber handgun, but it was not loaded, Ms. Pugh said.
Thank Heaven for small favors. It wasn’t loaded . . . this time. Next time, students might be dead. I feel like I just read a scene from the “Sleeper Cell 3” script. (No, sadly, there won’t be a third installment of Showtime’s excellent “Sleeper Cell,” but if there were, this real-life scene could be in it.)
Now, I’m sure I’ll get comments and e-mails from people telling me what a great guy Aaron Darrand Mohamed is, how he isn’t a religious Muslim, or how he’s just a nut or a pot-smoking criminal who has his name only because of some father who abandoned him or some other BS. That’s the usual response I get on these scary stories from those whose best accessory is the sand surrounding their upside down heads.
But clearly this guy, with a Muslim name, was up to something. And it was probably a dry run for something.
Reader Worry01 asks:
Was this a dry run? Did anyone think to contact the F.B.I.?
My answers: Probably. Probably not.
Sadly, that’s always the way it is in our consistently In Denial Nation.
Tags: Aaron Darrand Mohamed, Aaron Mohamed, Alfonso Roberts, CAPA, Christopher Olds, CPAA, Creative & Performing Arts school, dry run, gun, Islam, Muslim, Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, terrorism
I fear a Beslan incident in the future. We have had ample warning of it, but we will still be entirely unprepared.
Worry01 on April 15, 2010 at 2:15 pm