DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI – A Dearborn Heights man suspected of supporting ISIS extremists and plotting an attack on a 6,000-member Detroit church poses a danger to the community and should remain in federal detention, prosecutors argued in a 38-page motion filed in federal court Tuesday.
Citing “clear and convincing evidence” of the threat Khalil Abu-Rayyan, 21, poses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit said authorities shouldn’t disregard “his expressed support of a designated foreign terrorist organization, his continually voiced desire to engage in a martyrdom operation, his fascination with death and killing, particularly beheadings, his on-going mental health issues, his possession and attempted possession of firearms, his drug use, and his prior assaultive conduct.”
Rayyan is charged with two two-year felonies — making a false statement to acquire a firearm and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person — but hasn’t been charged with terrorism. When he was arrested in October, he had been under federal surveillance since May.
Rayyan’s attorney, Todd Shaker, has argued that the FBI used “extraordinary tactics” to manipulate his client, including using an undercover FBi agent posing as a depressed, suicidal Sunni Muslim 19-year-old prepared to commit martyrdom. Rayyan only made the statements because he was falling in love with her and wanted to impress her, Shaker has said.
Shaker's motion for bond also included a report from a clinical psychologist who said Rayyan posed a “very low” danger.



However, federal prosecutors noted several incidents that raised red flags before the FBI surveillance began, according to a report in The Detroit News.
Prosecutors said in the motion filed Tuesday that Rayyan’s step-mother told the FBI he was removed from his public school in Dearborn Heights after he allegedly told a teacher he dreamed of shooting everyone in his class.
Prosecutors also said that on Dec. 15, 2015, Rayyan allegedly texted to his brother that he carried a knife to his gym “just in case things went south” after fighting with a group of Shia Muslims.
During the surveillance, Rayyan posted gruesome videos of a Jordanian fighter pilot being burned alive and beheadings of Christians in Egypt and men being thrown from high-rise buildings as a means of execution on his social media accounts, then posted comments about the joy he felt in watching them, according to court documents.
Rayyan was arrested in October after the FBI became aware that he had purchased a firearm.
“Concern about the defendant’s intentions was escalated when the FBI learned that, not long after he had been arrested and released by the Detroit Police Department, the defendant attempted to purchase a second firearm, tried to get authorization to carry a concealed firearm and went to a shooting range to practice shooting AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles,” the motion said.
Rayyan's arrest in October came after the FBI became aware that he had purchased a firearm.
“Concern about the defendant’s intentions was escalated when the FBI learned that, not long after he had been arrested and released by the Detroit Police Department, the defendant attempted to purchase a second firearm, tried to get authorization to carry a concealed firearm and went to a shooting range to practice shooting AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles,” the motion said.