A Florida man was arrested Wednesday and charged with a plot to “reboot” the U.S. government by planting a bomb at the New York Stock Exchange this week and detonating it with a remote-controlled device, according to the FBI.
Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, of Coral Springs, Florida, was charged with attempt to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce.
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The FBI began investigating Yener in February based on a tip that he was storing “bombmaking schematics” in a storage unit. They found bomb-making sketches, many watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronics that could be used for building explosive devices, according to the FBI. He had also searched online for things related to bomb-making since 2017, according to the FBI.
Yener also told undercover FBI agents that he wanted to detonate the bomb the week before Thanksgiving and that the stock exchange in lower Manhattan would be a popular site to target.
“The Stock Exchange, we want to hit that, because it will wake people up,” he told undercover FBI agents, according to court documents.
Yener, who was described as "unhoused,” wanted to bomb the stock exchange in order to “reboot” the U.S. government, explaining that it would be “like a small nuke went off,” killing everyone inside the building, according to court documents.
In the last month, he had rewired two-way radios so that they could work as remote triggers for an explosive device and planned to wear a disguise when planting the explosives, according to court documents.
Yener had his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon and will be detained while he awaits a trial.
He was known to post videos on a YouTube channel about making explosives and fireworks from household items, and had a history of making threats, according to court documents. He was fired last year from a restaurant in Coconut Creek, Florida, after his former supervisor said he threatened to “go Parkland shooter in this place.”
He was also part of a small group that tried to join the far-right anti-government group the “ Boogaloo Bois ” and extremist group the Proud Boys but was denied membership because he said he wanted “to pursue martyrdom,” according to court documents.
The news was first reported by the website CourtWatch.
Calls to telephone numbers listed for Harun Abdul-Malik Yener in public records rang unanswered and a lawyer was not listed in court records.