US teen pleads guilty to 2015 IS-inspired plot to kill pope

Santos Colon tried to recruit sniper to shoot pontiff as he celebrated mass, also planned to set off explosives

ed note–as we argued here years ago, in the end, Judea, Inc–due not only to its undying hatred of Rome for the events of 70 A.D., but as well–on a more practical level–understands that there is no better fuel in igniting the long planned ‘clash of civilizations’ than to get a billion Muslims and a billion Roman Catholics fighting each other over the assassination of the Pope by some ‘Islamic militant’ working for Israel.

Times of Israel

A New Jersey teen pleaded guilty Monday to a plot allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group to kill Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to the United States.

The US Justice Department said Santos Colon, 15 years old at the time, sought to recruit a sniper to shoot the pope as he celebrated mass in Philadelphia on September 27, 2015. Colon also allegedly planned to set off explosives.

But the teen unwittingly recruited an undercover FBI agent for the job, and was arrested quietly 12 days before the event.

“Colon engaged someone he believed would be the sniper, but in reality was an undercover FBI employee. Colon engaged in target reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to purchase materials to make explosive devices,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Court documents said Colon sought to carry out the act in support of the Islamic State group and that he had used the adopted name Ahmad Shakoor.

In a plea bargain with prosecutors, Colon, now 17, agreed to forego trial and plead guilty as an adult to one charge of providing material support to a terror group.

With the deal, prosecutors dropped three other charges filed against him as a juvenile.

Court documents said the charges were in relation to the Islamic State group, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

But there were no details on how Colon became interested in the group and if or how he communicated with them.

Pope Francis celebrated mass for tens of thousands of followers in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the historic east coast city to cap a week-long visit for the World Meeting of Families

Colon’s home is in Lindenwold, New Jersey, just east of Philadelphia.

Colon faces a maximum of 15 years in prison but sentencing would likely be held off until 2021 while he undergoes psychiatric treatment in a secure facility.

In a plea statement, Colon acknowledged having been a patient in a mental institution in the past.