Pope Francis Assassination Plot: US Teen Pleads Guilty to ISIS-Inspired Plot to Kill Pontiff
An underage young man who plotted an assassination on Pope Francis pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to terrorists on Monday, April 3. The attack was supposed to have taken place during the pontiff's visit to Philadelphia in September 2015.
The suspect has been identified as Santos Colon of Lindenwold, New Jersey, east of Philadelphia. He was just 15 when he plotted the assassination in the weeks leading up to the Holy Father's visit. He sought to recruit a sniper to shoot the pope and planned to set off an explosive device, AP reported.
The assassination and bombing were supposed to happen during Pope Francis' homily before tens of thousands of Catholics during the closing mass for the World Meeting of Families in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Colon planned the whole thing for two months but bungled when the sniper he hired turned out to be an FBI agent.
"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," AFP quoted the Justice Department.
The suspect was arrested 12 days before the event. The investigation revealed that his plan was in support of the Islamic State (ISIS) and that he had taken the Muslim name, Ahmad Shakoor. No details were released as to how he got involved with the terror group and how he communicated with them.
Colon, now 17, entered a plea bargain agreement wherein he agreed to forego a trial and plead guilty as an adult to one charge of providing material support to terrorists. He also acknowledged to have been a patient in a mental institution in the past but doesn't believe he is mentally ill.
In return, prosecutors dropped three other charges filed against him as a juvenile that included attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to obtain and use a weapon of mass destruction. Colon faces a potential maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
