FBI thwarts 'white supremacist' attack on Jewish center

ANKARA

FBI said the law enforcement agencies have thwarted a potential white supremacist terror attack on a Jewish community center by arresting a 20-year-old Ohio man who posted his alleged shooting plan on social media.

After being notified by the Ohio police, FBI investigated the matter and raided on Friday the house of James Reardon Jr., where they have found an arsenal of assault weapons, said an FBI statement on Sunday.

"This is considered an ongoing investigation, further details can not be released at this time," it added.

Reardon was apprehended after posting on his Instagram account a video of himself firing a weapon with a caption which read: "Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O'Rearedon."

Seamus is the Gaelic version of James.

Reardon is being held in the Mahoning County Jail in Ohio on $250,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court in the same county on Monday.

Jewish groups in the U.S. hailed the efforts of law enforcement to protect Jewish community against white nationalism and violent extremism.

The FBI published a report this May, detecting a significant increase in the amount of white supremacist domestic terror cases.

It arrested 150 individuals on charges stemming from domestic terror in 2017, 120 in 2018, and the bureau is on track to match or even exceed those figures by the end of September, an anonymous counterterrorism official told CNN.

Cases considered domestic terror by the FBI generally include anti-government violence, attacks on racial or religious groups and individuals, as well as anti-abortion and environmental extremism, according to CNN.