by Mac for ASKEW
Dec 8, 2006


A man has been arrested in a Chicago suburb in the final stages of a terror act upon a busy suburban shopping mall.

The man has been identified by authorities at Homeland Security, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office as 22-year-old Derek Shareef, a Rockford resident. No further details about his background have been released. The FBI is expected to have him arraigned and charge him late Friday. There is as yet no information that he was connected to overseas groups and at this time he is being considered a lone operator.

Shareef has been watched for several months, during which he has met with undercover agents to discuss his plans to destroy several government and public buildings, including the CherryVale Mall in Rockford, which he knew would be filled with holiday shoppers, and which he had told agents he planned to attack on December 22.

On Wednesday Dec 6, Shareef purchased several grenades and a handgun from an undercover agent, performed ritualistic Muslim cleansing rituals common to pre-attack suicide bombers, made a good-bye video in case he didn't survive, and made his way to the local mall, where he attempted to place the grenades in various garbage containers. FBI agents from the Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force waited until the suspect placed the weapons for later use, before moving in for the arrest.

Shareef had told agents about his hatred of Jews and his plan to target their places of worship as well. He had chosen December 22 as a date for the mall attack, because he wanted it to be full of Christian shoppers for the Christmas holidays, according to his information to the undercover FBI authorities.