RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 Two young people have been arrested in an alleged plot to attack a Texas synagogue that involved driving through the congregation to \u201ckill as many Jews as possible,\u201d according to authorities and court documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The arrests come a month after an armed man crashed his pickup truck into a major Detroit-area synagogue in another attack on Jewish people. Synagogues around the world have increased security and protections for worshippers since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Angelina Han Hicks, 18, of Lexington, North Carolina, was being held Thursday in the Davidson County jail under a $10 million bond, jail records show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was arrested Wednesday and formally charged with conspiring with two \u201cmale subjects\u201d to commit murder and assault against members of Congregation Beth Israel in Houston on April 21, 2028, according to warrants laying out two felony counts against her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FBI office in Charlotte said Thursday in a social media post that a juvenile was arrested in relation to the plot and charged in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston. There was no immediate information on whether the juvenile was one of the two male subjects identified in Hicks\u2019 warrants, which listed only their first names and noted their last names as \u201cunknown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Houston Police Department news release on Thursday announced a 16-year-old being arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder related to \u201ca threat directed towards certain Jewish institutions in our area\u201d that the agency learned about Wednesday. The department didn\u2019t identify Congregation Beth Israel specifically. The FBI and the Houston school district police department assisted in the arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt this time, there is no other known credible threat,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Explaining why Hicks\u2019 detention was necessary, District Court Judge Carlton Terry wrote Wednesday in part that the alleged \u201cconspiracy is to kill as many Jews as possible by driving through a congregation at a synagogue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAllowing a co-conspirator a chance to communicate with either of those individuals or those who could relay a message puts lives at risk,\u201d Terry added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FBI said its Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force began the investigation Tuesday evening after a tip to a North Carolina law enforcement agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Hicks\u2019 warrants point to a potential attack two years from now, Alan Martin \u2014 a senior assistant district attorney covering Davidson County \u2014 said in an interview that there had been \u201csome concern that there could be an imminent event\u201d targeting the Houston synagogue. A potential motive for the planned violence wasn\u2019t immediately disclosed in North Carolina court documents. The investigation is continuing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attempts to speak by phone with Hicks\u2019 court-appointed attorney were unsuccessful Thursday. The lawyer, Chad Freeman, told the Houston Chronicle that the case was in its early stages and Hicks\u2019 youth could be a factor in her defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI anticipate getting numerous experts involved in the case to look at both investigatory and possible forensic matters,\u201d Freeman told the newspaper. Her next scheduled hearing is May 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Congregational Beth Israel is the oldest Jewish house of worship in Texas, founded in the 1850s. It also operates a school going up to fifth grade. The Charlotte FBI\u2019s social media post Thursday mentioned an alleged planned attack at a Jewish school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The potential threats communicated to congregation leadership by Houston police prompted Beth Israel to close on Wednesday \u201cout of an abundance of caution,\u201d the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston wrote in a social media post. The campus reopened Thursday, the federation said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe safety and security of the Houston Jewish community is of utmost importance to all of us,\u201d the federation wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lexington is about 90 miles west of Raleigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FBI said Ayman Ghazali sought to inflict as much damage as he could on Jewish people when he drove his pickup truck March 12 into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghazali, 41, was armed when the truck smashed through doors and into the hallway of an early childhood education area, striking a security guard. He then exchanged gunfire with another guard before fatally shooting himself. No one else among the 150 children and staff was injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ghazali, a Lebanese-born man who was a U.S. citizen, had learned a week before the attack that four of his family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike in his native country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n