A U.S. sailor plotted to attack Naval Station Great Lakes with bombs and guns and also targeted tourist locations in Chicago including the Magnificent Mile and the famous Bean statue in Millennium Park.
Xuanyu Harry Pang, who has since left the Navy, admitted to his involvement in the terror attack scheme and pleaded guilty to federal charges in Chicago on Thursday.
Pang, a Chinese native who became an American citizen in 1998, was charged two and a half years ago but the case was just unsealed on Thursday in Chicago. .
The attack plot targeting Great Lakes, the Navy’s main boot camp training facility, was from the inside. The schemed aimed at avenging the killing of a top Iranian military figure-taken out during President Donald Trump’s first term.
Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general who was killed during an American drone strike in 2020, had inspired radical Islamists worldwide.
Pang, 36 at the time, began communicating with several civilians he thought were like-minded plotters, but who were actually working undercover for the FBI.
According to this federal complaint unsealed Thursday in Chicago, Pang “displayed photos and videos on his phone of multiple locations inside the Naval Station. He also provided two U.S. military uniforms — for operatives to wear inside the base during the attack — and a cell phone that could be used as a test for a detonator.”
Pang admits to having scouted other potential targets including Michigan Avenue, city festivals and food fairs. Plotters arranged to buy machine guns that could be used on Michigan Avenue tourists.
The famous-and popular “Cloud Gate” sculpture in Millennium Park, more popularly known as “The Bean,” was also a discussed target. Federal investigators say the attackers talked about using radiation bombs during the attack to produce what Pang referred to as “max damage” in one of the recorded conversations.
Soleimani was killed near the Baghdad Airport, 6,500 miles from Chicago, but authorities now say had this revenge terror plot not been interrupted, metro Chicago would have paid the price half a world away.
Pang’s guilty plea today could land him in prison for 20-years. It isn’t known why the case was held for two and a half years, or why it was just unsealed.
