An Arizona man was found guilty by a federal jury of targeting four churches as part of a hoax bomb threat aimed at disrupting their worship services.
Zimnako Salah, a 45-year-old resident of Phoenix, was found guilty on Thursday of securing a backpack around a toilet at a California church as part of the bomb threat.
Salah traveled to four churches in three states — California, Arizona and Colorado — with a black backpack in tow. At two of the churches he managed to leave the backpacks containing the hoax bomb threats. At two other locations, however, he was stopped by church security.
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According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release on Friday, Salah had also been in the process of building an actual bomb that could fit inside a backpack.
Salah’s sentencing is scheduled for July 18 before U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins. He faces a maximum penalty of six years behind bars and a fine of $250,000.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith for the Eastern District of California was quoted in the press release as noting that Salah wasn’t simply engaging in “a prank” with his deeds.
“His actions were designed to threaten and intimidate the congregation because he disagreed with their religious beliefs,” said Beckwith. “Thanks to the coordinated efforts of federal and local law enforcement and the attorneys from my office and our DOJ partners in Washington D.C., our communities are safer with yesterday’s verdict.”
“People of all religions should be able to worship freely and exercise their First Amendment rights in this country without fear of violence.”
Salah was a mechanic who claimed to have served as a U.S. Army interpreter and reportedly had a history of mental illness. When he left a backpack attached to a toilet inside a church in Roseville, California, the congregation was forced to evacuate the building.
Last year, Salah was indicted for this action, as well as for leaving a backpack at a church in Arizona, and attempting to do the same at a church in Colorado and another near San Diego, California.
Salah also held anti-American views, with court documents describing an altercation he had with a neighbor who was wearing a hat with a U.S. flag on it, according to The Sacramento Bee.
He also reportedly had a storage unit that displayed “an antisemitic statement” painted on the wall “in Kurdish along with a reference to the [Islamic prophet] Muhammad,” according to court papers quoted by the Bee.
According to a report by the Family Research Council released last year, there were 436 attacks against churches in 2023, which was over twice the number reported by the group in 2022.
From January through November 2023, the FRC report found at least 315 acts of vandalism, 75 acts of arson or attempted arson, 10 gun-related incidents, 20 bomb threats and 37 other incidents at churches.
