Marine Corps Terrorist Wannabe Gets 25 Years

Lance Corporal Yonathan Melaku, a Marine Corps reservist, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a series of incidents in the fall of 2010 when he fired shots at Washington-area military installations.

Cpl. Melaku, a naturalized US citizen originally from Ethiopia, videotaped himself shouting “Allahu akhbar!” after firing shots at the US Marine Corps museum, and attacked other sites, including the Pentagon. He wasn’t caught, however, until the following June, when he was picked up acting suspiciously at Arlington National Cemetery. He fled from police, and during the chase dropped a backpack containing spent 9mm shell casings, clear plastic bags of ammonium nitrate, spray paint, and a spiral notebook in which he had written references to the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and other terrorist topics.

A later search of his home turned up a list of items used to make improvised explosive devices, as well as a laptop computer holding documents concerning bomb-making.

Cpl. Melaku admitted attacking the military installations, and has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. The videotapes he took of his crimes have now been released, and excerpts are included in the FOX News report below.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

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