Temple Massacre|Foiled in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE (CN) - The FBI said Tuesday that it prevented a mass shooting at a Masonic Temple in Milwaukee by arresting a man with machine guns and a silencer.

The FBI said it had 23-year-old Samy Mohamed Hamzeh, of Milwaukee, under surveillance since September last year. He made detailed plans for a massacre in conversations with two confidential informants, which the FBI recorded and translated from Arabic.

The FBI says Hamzeh even took a tour of the Masonic Temple, to plan his massacre.

In the criminal complaint, filed Tuesday, an FBI agent cites numerous graphic statements Hamzeh allegedly told the undercover informants.

"Thirty is excellent. If I got out after killing thirty people, I will be happy 100%. ... 100% happy, because these 30 will terrify the world. The motherfuckers will know that nobody can play with Muslims," Hamzeh said, according to the indictment.

Hamzeh wanted the two informants to have machine guns with silencers, too. He said, "All three of us get in together, one will go to the one that is staying at the reception," according to the indictment.

It continues: "If she was alone, it is OK, if there were two of them, shoot both of them, do not let the blood show, shoot her from the bottom, two or three shots in her stomach and let her sit on the chair and push her to the front, as if she is sleeping, did you understand? Then stay downstairs, the other two will take the lift to the third floor, go directly to the room, open the door, shoot everyone."

In that conversation he also said: "The one who is standing downstairs will spray anyone he finds. We will shoot them, kill them and get out," according to the indictment.

Hamzeh said he wanted to kill Masons because "they are playing with the world like a game, man, and we are like asses, we don't know what is going on, these are the ones who are fighting, these are the ones that need to be killed, not the Shi'a, because these are the ones who are against us, these are the ones who are making living for us like hell," the indictment states.

Hamzeh is charged with unlawfully possessing a machine gun and receiving an unregistered machine gun. He was arrested after buying the guns from undercover agents.

Hamzeh was a personal trainer at a downtown gym little more than half a mile from the site of the planned attack, according to his Facebook page, which appears to have been taken down between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit