Man arrested at New Mexico compound was training children to carry out school shootings: Report
The man arrested from the New Mexico compound, where 11 emaciated children were found, was reportedly training the youngsters to commit school shootings, according to court documents.
The documents stated that the man, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 39, was conducting training in the area with assault rifles at the compound near the Colorado border.
The entire case began when authorities launched a hunt in Clayton County, Georgio for Wahhaj, who had allegedly kidnapped his three-year-old sick child. The child’s mother alerted the authorities and said he "wanted to perform an exorcism on said child because he believes the child is possessed by the devil,” according to an arrest warrant which was issued on January 9.
The authorities, nearly seven months later, traced Wahhaj to Taos, near the Colorado border in New Mexico and the Taos County Sheriff's Office in New Mexico executed a search warrant for Wahhaj. The search warrant was for a compound in the area of Amalia, Taos. When authorities raided the compound, they found 11 children living there in squalid conditions.
According to criminal complaint, "The property is best described as a compound surrounded in part with an earthen berm and old tires stacked up around it, with open trenches and pits, with numerous trip hazards and wood with nails sticking up and broken glass and bottles litter [sic] around the grounds, overall this is readily identifiable and hazardous with extremely filthy living conditions."
Human remains of a child have also been discovered at the site and authorities are awaiting word on whether the remains were those of his mission three-year-old son, who was severely disabled, according to 9news. The court documents were filed by prosecutor Timothy Hasson on Wednesday, asking Wahhaj be held without bail.
Wahhaj, along with four other adults, was arrested during the raid for child abuse. The other adults included a male Lucas Morton, 40, and three women, Subhanah Amatullah Wahhaj, 35, Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, and Jany Leveille, 35.
Hassan wrote: "He poses a great danger to the children found on the property as well as a threat to the community as a whole due to the presence of firearms and his intent to use these firearms in a violent and illegal manner."
A judge reportedly ordered that all of them should be held without bond pending further processing, reports said.
According to the court documents, a foster parent of one of the 11 children found at the compound had told authorities that the child had been trained to use an assault rifle in preparation for school shooting.
The accusation against Wahhaj was defended by Taos County Public Defender's Office's Aleks Kostich who said the new accusation of a school shooting conspiracy was presented with without much information, except for the explanation by a foster parent.
