Florida Neo-Nazi Turned Muslim Claims He Murdered Roommates To Prevent Terror Attack
A Florida man who was formerly a neo-Nazi before converting to Islam said he murdered his two neo-Nazi roommates to prevent them from carrying out a terror attack, according to court documents. Devon Arthurs admitted to killing both men in their Tampa apartment building Saturday.
Arthurs, 18, shot and killed Jeremy Himmelman, 22, and Andrew Oneschuk, 18, both of whom were also neo-Nazis, he told police.
“He stated that his two deceased roommates, along with a third roommate, Brandon Russell, were neo-Nazis and that he wanted to prevent them from committing planned acts of domestic terrorism,” assistant state attorney Ronald Gale wrote in a pretrial motion.
Read: Florida Neo-Nazi Who Converted To Islam Kills Roommates For Disrespecting Muslim Faith
“He practiced some sort of radical Muslim and they were just disagreeing with his beliefs,” Alyssa Himmelman, Jeremy Himmelman’s sister, told WTVT-TV.
Himmelman said the two men had moved in with Arthurs two weeks prior to the shooting and that there had been disagreements among the roommates almost immediately.
Police arrested Arthurs Monday after they were called to a smoke shop near the apartment building where Arthurs was holding three people hostage. He then told police about the bodies, stating that he was angered by the world’s “anti-Muslim” sentiments and that he wanted to “bring attention to his cause,” the Tampa Bay Times reported Monday. The store’s manager said he was wielding a gun and shouting “the world’s corrupt, crazy stuff like that.”
Arthurs reportedly yelled “Allah Mohammed!” while police walked him to a patrol car.
“I had to do it,” Arthurs told police at the time.“This wouldn’t have happened if your country didn’t bomb my country.”
All of the hostages were released from the situation unharmed. Arthurs was expected to appear in court Wednesday for a bond hearing.
Russell, the fourth roommate, was also arrested by police after they found materials used to make explosives inside the apartment’s garage. Authorities found chemicals, empty bullet casings with fuses, white supremacist propaganda and a framed photo of Timothy McVeigh, the man who bombed an Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.
Read: Neo-Nazi Connected To Florida Double Murder Arrested After FBI Finds Explosives
Russell, a member of the Florida National Guard, told police he had merely used the explosive materials for a project he was working on with the University of South Florida’s engineering club in 2013. Police, however, said the materials were “too energetic and volatile” to be used for such purposes. Arthurs, however, told police that the explosives were going to be used by Russell and the other two roommates in terror plots. Russell was arrested on charges of possessing unregistered destructive devices and unlawful storage of explosive charges.
Russell did not immediately respond to the charges but told police upon his arrest that he was a “national socialist” and a member of the group “Atom Waffen,” German for “atomic weapon.” He was being held at a federal detention center in Miami.
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