LOS ANGELES (AP) — An Army veteran who converted to Islam and discussed launching various terror attacks
throughout Southern California was arrested as he plotted to bomb a white supremacist rally as
retribution for the New Zealand mosque attacks, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Mark Domingo, an infantryman who served a combat stint in Afghanistan, was arrested Friday after visiting
a park in Long Beach where authorities said he planned to plant home-made explosive devices made with
nail-filled pressure cookers in advance of a Nazi rally scheduled Sunday.
Domingo, 26, was arrested on a charge of providing material support to terrorists. A criminal complaint
said he had been planning since March to "manufacture and use a weapon of mass destruction in order
to commit mass murder."
U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna told a news conference that Domingo supported violent jihad and spoke about
becoming a martyr and of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group if it established a presence in
the United States.
"This is a case in which law enforcement was able to identify a man consumed with hate and bent on
mass murder, and stop him before he could carry out his attack," Hanna said. "The criminal
case outlines a chilling terrorism plot that developed over the past two months and targeted innocent
Americans that he expected to gather this past weekend."
Investigators said Domingo posted an online message March 3 that said "America needs another Vegas
event," an apparent reference to the 2017 mass shooting that killed 59. He allegedly said it would
spark civil unrest to weaken "America by giving them a taste of the terror they gladly spread all
over the world."
After Domingo began to discuss seeking revenge for the March 15 attacks that killed 50 people at New
Zealand mosques, a confidential source who has worked with the FBI since 2013 began chatting with him
about his plans.
Domingo said he had an assault rifle, semi-automatic rifle and several magazines of ammunition. He
discussed picking off Jews walking to synagogue, shooting police officers or attacking a church or
military base, according to investigators.
When the source asked him how he planned to carry out violence without getting caught, court records said
Domingo replied: "Martyrdom, bro."
He also allegedly discussed killing a neighbor he was upset with as a prelude to broader violence and
later contemplated bombing the Santa Monica Pier, where he said a summer attack on the crowded tourist
spot would maximize casualties because people wouldn’t be able to escape the blast in the enclosed
space.
Eventually, he settled on the idea of planting an improvised explosive device that would be remotely
triggered or detonated by a timer at a white supremacist event, investigators said. The confidential
source connected him with a purported bomb maker who was actually an undercover police officer.
Domingo bought 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) of nails long enough to puncture internal organs and provided
them to the bomb maker, though the resulting contraption contained only inert materials, authorities
said.
If he survived the planned bombing, Domingo allegedly discussed launching further attacks on the Long
Beach Port or on a train.
The plot was thwarted just two days ahead of the event, investigators said, when an FBI SWAT team
arrested Domingo after he was given the pressure cookers and surveyed Bluff Park in Long Beach, where
the rally was supposed to happen.
White nationalists, however, never showed up at the park Sunday. Instead, a large group of counter
protesters demonstrated for peace.
Phone and email messages seeking comment from the public defender representing Domingo were not
immediately returned. A voicemail left at a phone number listed for Domingo was not returned.
Domingo is believed to have acted alone and authorities said the public was not at risk. After Domingo
was identified online by the FBI, he was under surveillance around the clock, said Ryan Young, the FBI
special agent in charge of counter terrorism at the Los Angeles office.
"Our biggest fear is this was a rapid what we call ‘radicalization to mobilization to
violence,’" Young said. "Sometimes we get asked ‘What keeps you up at night?’ This is a case
that keeps us up at night."
While Domingo had appeared committed to carry out the plot, court papers portray him as suddenly
reluctant as the bomb plot came together.
He told the others he thought were his confederates they should consider postponing so he could finish
reading the Quran and experience the Muslim holy month of Ramadan beginning in May.
Last Wednesday, he told the confidential source he wanted to think about it for a night.
"Let’s just sleep on it," he said, according to court papers. "If we’re still as motivated
… I’ll give the go-ahead."
The next day he sent a message to the supposed bomb maker that the plan was on. The two referred to the
bombs as "presents" they needed to wrap for a party.
"Keep the presents somewhere safe lol," Domingo wrote back Friday morning before making plans
to meet that night.
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Associated Press reporter John Antczak contributed to this report.