Garden City Telegram
Friday April 20, 2018
By Mark Minton
Adan Keynan, owner of the African Shop in Garden City, said the guilty verdicts of three men convicted of conspiring to detonate a bomb at a local apartment complex where Somali immigrants live and worship should hearten members of the Somali community who wooried that the men would be acquitted of their crimes. [TELEGRAM PHOTO]
Members of law enforcement and Garden City’s Somali community expressed relief after three men were convicted Wednesday of conspiring to detonate a bomb at a local apartment complex where Somali immigrants live and worship.
After a four-week trial, a federal jury convicted Patrick Eugene Stein, 49, of Wright, Curtis Allen, 50, of Liberal, and Gavin Wright, 49, of Oklahoma, of one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and one count of conspiracy to violate the housing rights of the targeted Muslim community, the majority of whom are refugees from war-torn Somalia.
Both conspiracy charges stemmed from the men’s plot to blow up an apartment complex housing a Muslim mosque in the 300 block of Mary Street with the intention of killing everyone inside. Wright was also convicted of lying to the FBI.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that the defendants plotted the bombing for several months while holding numerous meetings and testing homemade explosives. The three men had planned to detonate the bombs a day after the 2016 presidential election.
The men face up to life in prison, and their sentencing is scheduled for June 27.
“It’s a good day for Garden City, a good day for Kansas and the United States to continue putting the message that our communities will not tolerate such criminal behavior,” said Garden City Police Chief Michael Utz. “If individuals hear something or see something, they need to say something to stop this kind of activity... so we can prevent a death or mass casualties.”
Utz and other GCPD officers routinely meet with leaders from the East African Community Center, and next month a meeting is planned with African tribal elders, who will discuss their concerns. Utz said he has already briefed the African community’s leadership on the results of the trial, and they are “very grateful.”
Finney County Sheriff Kevin Bascue said he thinks the verdict will ease tensions in the community, even if the scar left by the events never quite fades.
“Now that they’ve been found guilty, there can be some ease and peace of mind,” he said. “But I don’t think this community will ever forget.”
During the eight-month FBI investigation, Dan Day acted as an informant to law enforcement, recording numerous conversations in which the men discussed and refined their plan, to include their intent to fill four vehicles with explosives and park them at the four corners of the apartment complex before detonating them in hopes of leveling the building and killing its occupants.
The Kansas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Kansas) celebrated the jury’s decision.
Garden City Police Chief Michael Utz, left, listens to the concerns from the Somali community during a community meeting in October 2016 at 305 W. Mary St., following the FBI announcement that three men were charged with planning a domestic terrorism attack. The three suspects were convicted Wednesday of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to violate the housing rights of the targeted Muslim community. [TELEGRAM PHOTO]
“We welcome the guilty verdicts in this disturbing case and hope that anyone considering turning bigoted views into violent actions will see what their fate will be when apprehended and prosecuted by law enforcement authorities,” said CAIR-Kansas Board Chair Moussa Elbayoumy.
Elbayoumy said CAIR has witnessed an unprecedented spike in bigotry targeting American Muslims and members of other minority groups since the election of Donald Trump.
Adan Keynan, owner of the African Shop in Garden City, said the verdict should hearten members of the Somali community who worried that the men would be acquitted of their crimes. He said an acquittal would have left members of the community “heartbroken.”
Another local Somali, Abdulkadir Mohamed, said local Muslim Africans appreciate efforts by American law enforcement, which he says are a breath of fresh air compared to many corrupt law enforcement agencies throughout Africa.
He said Somali people are conditioned to fear the police, who commonly jail people without reason or an investigation.
“But here, no, it’s different,” he said. “They must have proof. They must have evidence.”
Mohamed said he was shocked and afraid to venture out into the community after news of the bomb plot broke, but the convictions comfort him and embolden him to become more social again.
Referring to evidence that the men referred to Muslim Somalis in Garden City as “cockroaches,” Mohamed said he was disheartened because, “We are people, just like everyone else.”
“We don’t discriminate against people,” he said. “We are not terrorists. We are humble people. We are refugees. We work for this country, we pay taxes to the government, everything.”
The Somali refugees in Garden City came to America to be safe, he said, adding that the people of Garden City, for the most part, are kind and welcoming.
“We came here for safety, to be in a safe place with good opportunity,” he said.