A federal jury convicted an Arizona man for leaving a backpack in a church bathroom with the intent to convey a hoax bomb threat, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Zimnako Salah, 45, strapped a backpack around the church’s toilet in Roseville, California, leading parishioners to believe it was a bomb, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The jury also found that Salah targeted the church because of the religion of its worshippers, classifying the offense as a hate crime.
From September to November 2023, Salah visited four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado. At two of these churches, he left backpacks that officials say were intended to instill fear among congregants by suggesting they contained bombs.
“Planting a hoax bomb at the Roseville church was not an isolated incident or a prank for this defendant,” Acting U.S. At
torney Michele Beckwith for the Eastern District of California said in a press release. “His actions were designed to threaten and intimidate the congregation because he disagreed with their religious beliefs.At the two of the four churches, security confronted Salah before he could leave the backpacks. Police Captain Kevin Heaton was at a church in Greenwood, Colorado, when he noticed a man, later identified as Salah, retrieving a backpack from a green Toyota Prius.
“The male put the backpack on his back and began to walk toward the main entrance,” Heaton said in a police report obtained by CBS News.
Heaton said Salah walked toward the church bathrooms. When Heaton followed him, Salah turned around and left the church.
Officials say that while he was planting false bombs, Salah had been building a real one, and during a search of his storage unit, an FBI Bomb Technician seized items that served as parts of an improvised explosive device (IED).
Additionally, FBI officials say when they searched Salah’s social media records, they discovered that he consumed extremist propaganda, including watching videos of ISIS terrorists committing hate crimes.
Salah faces a maximum penalty of six years and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for July 18, 2025.
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