Man arrested with explosives at Michigan mosque

[Drolefille]

Washington Post

A 63-year-old Southern California man who was traveling with explosives in his vehicle with the intention of blowing up one of the nation's largest mosques where mourners had gathered for a funeral was arrested in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan authorities said Sunday.

Dearborn police said Roger Stockham was arraigned Wednesday on one count of making a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of possessing explosives with an unlawful intent. Stockham had a large but undisclosed quantity of class-C fireworks including M-80s, which are outlawed in Michigan, Chief Ronald Haddad said.

Haddad said Stockham was arrested Monday evening without incident in the parking lot of Islamic Center of America, while a large group was gathered inside. He said police received a 911 call from a resident.

Haddad said authorities believe Stockham was acting alone but still take him "very seriously." He said Stockham has "a long history of anti-government activities," though he declined to elaborate.

The chief said he called the mosque leader, Imam Hassan al-Qazwini, early Tuesday to let him know of the arrest, and later met with Qazwini and mosque board members. He said members shared concerns about copycat crimes if the arrest was publicized, and Haddad said he understood.

AP:

Joe Nahhas, a manager at the J.S. Fields bar in Detroit, told The Associated Press that a man later identified as 63-year-old Roger Stockham ordered a Scotch on Jan. 24 and told him he planned to cause an explosion that would be "here, there, the mosque."
Nahhas said he called 911 to report the incident, and police have said a tip preceded Stockham's arrest near the Islamic Center of America in neighboring Dearborn a few hours later.

...

Court documents in Vermont show Stockham pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges stemming from threats made in 2002 against the U.S. president and against veterans' facilities in that state. Stockham was charged after officials say he threatened employees at a Veterans Administration hospital in White River Junction, Vt., and at a veterans' center in South Burlington, Vt. He allegedly threatened the murder the president — who at the time was George W. Bush — saying he was going to "whack the bastard."
According to Thomas Zonay, an attorney who represented him at the time, Stockham was committed for a psychiatric examination at the U.S. Medical Center for Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., for four months in 2005 and was found to have bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons says Stockham was released from custody that year.

How dangerous are a bunch of Class C fireworks? Beyond the "terror" aspect of it, would it have started a fire, or destroyed more than that if he'd set them off en masse in the mosque?

Either way, thank goodness for people like the bartender who called in the threat and the police for picking him up and doing it quietly.