WICHITA, Kan. — Three members of a Kansas militia group are accused of plotting to bomb an apartment complex that’s home to Somali immigrants in the western Kansas meatpacking town of Garden City, a thwarted attack prosecutors say was planned for the day after the November election.

A complaint unsealed Friday charges Curtis Wayne Allen, 49; Patrick Eugene Stein, 47; and Gavin Wayne Wright, 49, with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. The men are members of a small militia that calls itself “the Crusaders,” and whose members espouse anti-government, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant extremist beliefs, according to the complaint.

Their first court appearance is Monday.

The arrests were the culmination of an eight-month FBI investigation that took agents “deep into a hidden culture of hatred and violence,” Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.

The complaint alleges group members chose the target based on their hatred for Muslims, people of Somali descent and immigrants – and out of a desire to inspire other militia groups and “wake people up.”

In a June meeting, Stein brought up the Orlando nightclub shooting and proposed carrying out a similar attack against Muslim refugees in Garden City, according to the complaint. They ultimately decided to target the apartment complex because of the number of Somalis who lived there, Beall said.

The complaint said Stein discussed the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh.

The men, who were arrested in Liberal on Friday morning, performed surveillance of the apartment building and prepared a manifesto, Beall said.

In a profanity-laced conference call that law enforcement monitored, Stein said the only way “this country’s ever going to get turned around is it will be a bloodbath,” according to the complaint.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.