Cousins to plead guilty to plotting attack on National Guard in Joliet
Jonas, Hasan
JOLIET (STMW) - Two Aurora men have agreed to plead guilty to plotting to help Islamic State terrorists, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Hasan Edmonds, a member of the Illinois National Guard, and his cousin, Jonas Edmonds also are accused of plotting to attack the Guard base in Joliet where Hasan Edmonds had trained.
Both now are expected to enter into plea agreements; change-of-plea hearings are set for next month, with Jonas scheduled to appear Dec. 9 and Hasan on Dec. 14, prosecutors say.
Hasan Edmonds planned to travel overseas to fight alongside Islamic State terrorists, federal authorities claim. He was arrested March 25 at Midway Airport as he tried to fly to Cairo, Egypt. He had served with the Guard’s 634th Brigade Support Battalion in Joliet, and after he left the country, Jonas planned to disguise himself in Hasan’s uniform and attack the base where Hasan had been training, in hopes of killing up to 120 soldiers, the feds say.
Jonas was arrested without incident at his home in Aurora around the same time his cousin was nabbed, authorities said. Hasan Edmonds had allegedly identified officers for him to target, telling him to “kill the head.”
Relatives said the charges shocked the family, and their grandmother said she would have turned them in herself if she’d known what they were plotting.
“Two of our family members have completely went berserk,” Lubertha Bates of Aurora told the Chicago Sun-Times.