Lone-wolf terrorism
Encyclopedia
A lone wolf or lone-wolf fighter is someone who commits violent acts in support of some group, movement, or ideology, but does so alone, outside of any command structure.
, the term "lone wolf" was popularized by white supremacists Alex Curtis and Tom Metzger
in the late 1990s:
"I have nothing to say" – which he urged extremists to use whenever questioned by police as a highly effective means of obstructing prosecution.
Usually, the lone-wolf terrorist shares an ideological or philosophical identification with an extremist group, but does not communicate with the group he or she identifies with. While the lone wolf's actions are motivated to advance the group's goal, the tactics and methods are conceived and directed solely by the lone wolf, without any outside command or direction. In many cases, as in the tactic as envisioned by Curtis, the lone wolf never even has any personal contact with a larger group. Because of this, lone-wolf terrorism poses a particular problem for counter-terrorism
officials, as it is considerably more difficult to gather intelligence on lone-wolves, compared to conventional terrorists.
In the United States, lone-wolves may present a greater threat than organized groups. According to the Christian Science Monitor, "With the exception of the attacks on the World Trade Center
... the major terrorists attacks in the United States have been perpetrated by deranged individuals who were sympathetic to a larger cause – from Oklahoma City bomber
Timothy McVeigh
(and accomplice Terry Nichols, and possibly accomplice John Doe 2) to the Washington area sniper John Allen Muhammad
".
Relatedly, anti-abortion militant
s The Army of God use "leaderless resistance
" as its organizing principle.
Origins of the term
According to the Anti-Defamation LeagueAnti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
, the term "lone wolf" was popularized by white supremacists Alex Curtis and Tom Metzger
Tom Metzger
Thomas Metzger is an American white nationalist who founded White Aryan Resistance . His far-right activist groups, including WAR, have been monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an American organization that tracks hate groups...
in the late 1990s:
"I have nothing to say" – which he urged extremists to use whenever questioned by police as a highly effective means of obstructing prosecution.
On Metzger: One of the most influential aspects of Metzger's right-wing activism has been his advocacy of the "lone wolf " or "leaderless resistanceLeaderless resistanceLeaderless resistance, or phantom cell structure, is a political resistance strategy in which small, independent groups , including individuals , challenge an established adversary such as a government. Leaderless resistance can encompass anything from non-violent disruption and civil disobedience...
" model of extremismExtremismExtremism is any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards...
, which favors individual or small-cell underground activity, as opposed to above-ground membership organizations.
Current usage
The term "lone wolf" was subsequently adopted by US law enforcement agencies and by media to refer to individuals following this strategy. The FBI and San Diego Police operation to investigate Curtis' activities was named Operation Lone Wolf, "largely due to Curtis' encouragement of other white supremacists to follow what Curtis refers to as 'lone wolf' activism". Currently, the term "lone-wolf terrorism" now refers to violent acts that take place outside a command structure, regardless of ideology.Usually, the lone-wolf terrorist shares an ideological or philosophical identification with an extremist group, but does not communicate with the group he or she identifies with. While the lone wolf's actions are motivated to advance the group's goal, the tactics and methods are conceived and directed solely by the lone wolf, without any outside command or direction. In many cases, as in the tactic as envisioned by Curtis, the lone wolf never even has any personal contact with a larger group. Because of this, lone-wolf terrorism poses a particular problem for counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
officials, as it is considerably more difficult to gather intelligence on lone-wolves, compared to conventional terrorists.
In the United States, lone-wolves may present a greater threat than organized groups. According to the Christian Science Monitor, "With the exception of the attacks on the World Trade Center
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
... the major terrorists attacks in the United States have been perpetrated by deranged individuals who were sympathetic to a larger cause – from Oklahoma City bomber
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
Timothy McVeigh
Timothy McVeigh
Timothy James McVeigh was a United States Army veteran and security guard who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995...
(and accomplice Terry Nichols, and possibly accomplice John Doe 2) to the Washington area sniper John Allen Muhammad
John Allen Muhammad
John Allen Muhammad was a spree killer from the United States. He, along with his younger partner, Lee Boyd Malvo, carried out the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks, killing at least 10 people. Muhammad and Malvo were arrested in connection with the attacks on October 24, 2002, following tips from alert...
".
Relatedly, anti-abortion militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
s The Army of God use "leaderless resistance
Leaderless resistance
Leaderless resistance, or phantom cell structure, is a political resistance strategy in which small, independent groups , including individuals , challenge an established adversary such as a government. Leaderless resistance can encompass anything from non-violent disruption and civil disobedience...
" as its organizing principle.
Lone wolves in Asia
- On 24 February 1994, Baruch GoldsteinBaruch GoldsteinBaruch Kopel Goldstein was an American-born Jewish Israeli physician and mass murderer who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, killing 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers and wounding another 125....
, a former member of the Jewish Defence League and follower of the KahanistKahanismKahanism is loosely defined as an nationalist ideology of dedication and self-sacrifice for Jewish causes, such as physical and spiritual freedom and safety of Jews in Israel and worldwide. The term is derived from the name of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane , founder of the Jewish Defense League in USA...
movement, opened fire inside the Cave of the PatriarchsCave of the PatriarchsThe Cave of the Patriarchs or the Cave of Machpelah , is known by Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham or Ibrahimi Mosque ....
in HebronHebronHebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
, killing 29 people and injuring at least 100. - On March 19, 2005, Egyptian national Omar Ahmad Abdullah Ali detonated a car bomb outside a theatre filled with Westerners in DohaDohaDoha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, QatarQatarQatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, killing a British director and injuring 12 others. Police believe he was acting alone. - On 4 August 2005, Eden Natan-ZadaEden Natan-ZadaEden Natan-Zada was an Israeli terrorist who was born to a Jewish family that immigrated to Israel from Iran. He was an AWOL Israeli soldier who opened fire in a bus in Shefa-Amr in northern Israel on 4 August 2005, killing four Arab citizens of Israel and wounding twelve others. He was restrained,...
, another alleged Kahanist, killed four Israeli Arabs on a bus and wounded 12 before being killed by other passengers. Natan-Zada was a 19-year-old soldier who had deserted his unit after he refused to remove settlersIsraeli settlementAn Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
from the Gaza StripGaza Stripthumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. Less than two weeks later, on 17 August 2005, Asher WeisganAsher WeisganAsher Weisgan was an Israeli bus driver who shot and murdered four Palestinians and injured two others in the Israeli settlement of Shiloh in the West Bank on 17 August 2005. Weisgan wanted to disrupt the Israeli Government's unilateral disengagement plan in Gaza by sparking a Palestinian reaction...
, a 40-year old Israeli bus-driver, shot and killed four Palestinians and injured two others in the West BankWest BankThe West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
settlement of Shiloh. - Nabil Ahmad Jaoura, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, opened fire on tourists at the Roman Amphitheatre in AmmanAmmanAmman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...
, JordanJordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, on September 4, 2006. One British tourist died and six others, including five tourists, were injured. Police said he was not connected with any organized group but was angered by Western and Israeli actions in the Middle East. - On 6 March 2008, Alaa Abu DheinMercaz HaRav massacreThe Mercaz HaRav massacre, also called the Mercaz HaRav shooting, was an attack that occurred on 6 March 2008, in which a lone Palestinian gunman shot multiple students at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, a religious school in Jerusalem, Israel, after which the gunman himself was shot dead. Eight students...
opened fire on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem, killing eight and injuring 11 before he himself was shot to death. His family denied he was a member of any militant group, although they said he was intensely religious. - On 2 July 2008, Husam Taysir DwayatJerusalem bulldozer attackThe Jerusalem bulldozer attack occurred on July 2, 2008, when an Arab resident of east Jerusalem identified as Hussam Taysir Duwait , attacked several cars on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, Israel using a front-end loader , killing three people and wounding at...
attacked several cars with a front-end loader. He killed three Israelis and injured dozens more before being shot to death. He was not a member of any militant group. - In 19 August 2010, an individual UighurUyghur peopleThe Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
was suspected in having planted a bicycle bomb2010 Aksu bombingThe 2010 Aksu bombing was a bombing in Aksu, Xinjiang, People's Republic of China that resulted in at least seven deaths and fourteen injuries when a Uyghur man detonated explosives in a crowd of police and paramilitary guards at about 10:30 on 19 August, using a three-wheeled vehicle. The...
that killed 7 people. - In January 2011, Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, Pakistan was assassinated by a lone wolf, though supported by a larger base.
Lone wolves in Europe
- During late 1991 and early 1992, right-wing Swiss-German immigrant John AusoniusJohn AusoniusJohn Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius , known in the media as Lasermannen is a Swedish convicted murderer, bank robber, and attempted serial killer. From August 1991 to January 1992 he shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring...
shot eleven dark-skinned people in Sweden, killing one. - Between 1993 and 1997, Franz FuchsFranz FuchsFranz Fuchs was a xenophobic Austrian terrorist. Between 1993 and 1997 he killed four people and injured 15, some of them seriously, using three improvised explosive devices and five waves of 25 mailbombs in total.Fuchs' mailbomb campaigns and his personality features are according to criminal...
, an Austrian, engaged in a campaign against foreigners and organizations and individuals whom he believed to be friendly to foreigners. He killed four people and injured 15, some of them seriously, using three improvised explosive deviceImprovised explosive deviceAn improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
s and five waves of 25 mailbombMailbombA letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened. They have been used in terrorist attacks such as those of the Unabomber...
s in total. - In London in April 1999 David CopelandDavid CopelandDavid John Copeland is a former member of the British National Party and the National Socialist Movement, who became known as the "London Nail Bomber" after a 13-day bombing campaign in April 1999 aimed at London's black, Bangladeshi and gay communities.Over three successive weekends between 17...
targeted blacks, Asians and gays with nail bombs, killing three and injuring 129 — his aim was to start a race war. He was sentenced to at least 50 years and is now in a secure mental hospital. - In the Netherlands on 6 May 2002, nine days before the elections, Dutch politician Pim FortuynPim FortuynWilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List ....
was murdered by Volkert van der GraafVolkert van der GraafVolkert van der Graaf is known for assassinating the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn on 6 May 2002 during the political campaign. Van der Graaf was an animal rights and environmental activist, founder of a group that worked through litigation...
, an environmental activist who declared he saw Pim Fortuyn as a threat to Dutch society. - On 2 March, 2011, Arid Uka shot and killed two United States soldiers and seriously wounded two others in the 2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting2011 Frankfurt Airport shootingThe 2011 Frankfurt Airport shooting occurred on 2 March, 2011 at Frankfurt Airport in Germany. The shooter, Arid Uka, was arrested and charged with killing two United States soldiers and seriously wounding two others...
in Germany. German authorities suspected that this was an Islamist’s attack, which would make it the first deadly act of this kind in Germany. - In Norway on July 22, 2011, Anders Behring BreivikAnders Behring BreivikAnders Behring Breivik is a Norwegian terrorist, paranoid schizophrenic and the confessed perpetrator of the Norway attacks on 22 July 2011: the bombing of government buildings in Oslo that resulted in eight deaths, and the mass shooting at a camp of the Workers' Youth League of the Labour Party...
killed 77 people in 2 consecutive attacks: First, he placed a heavy car-bomb in the heart of the Norwegian government headquarters in the center of the capital, OsloOsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. The blast killed 8 people. An hour later, he appeared at the summer camp of the Worker's Youth LeagueWorkers' Youth League (Norway)The Workers' Youth League is Norways biggest political youth organization, and is affiliated with the Norwegian Labour Party.AUF took its current form in April 1927, following the merger of Left Communist Youth League and Socialist Youth League of Norway corresponding with the merger of its...
, the youth organization of the Labour Party, at the island of Utoya, 35 kilometers west of Oslo. There were 500 people on the island. Impersonating a police officer, he shot for approximately 90 minutes, killing 69 young people. Breivik was arrested and confessed the killings. He is said to be a right-wing extremist example of a lone wolf terrorist. He describes himself as (commander of) a solo cellClandestine cell systemA clandestine cell structure is a method for organizing a group of people in such a way that it can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization. Depending on the group's philosophy, its operational area, the communications technologies available, and the nature of the mission,...
of, as he claims, the in 2002 refounded Knights Templar. He sent a manifesto to potential sympathizers, after which it appeared on internet (see also advantages for leaderless resistance).
Lone wolves in the United States
- Timothy McVeighTimothy McVeighTimothy James McVeigh was a United States Army veteran and security guard who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995...
is often given as a classic example of the "lone wolf". Although Terry NicholsTerry NicholsTerry Lynn Nichols is a convicted bomber's accomplice. Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevator manager, real estate salesman, ranch hand, and house husband. He met his future co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, during a brief stint in the...
was convicted of conspiring with him, McVeigh planned the bombing and threatened Nichols with harm to himself and/or his family if he did not co-operate in helping him mix the fertilizer and other bomb ingredients. McVeigh was convicted and executed for the 19 April 1995 Oklahoma City bombingOklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
, which killed 168 people and injured hundreds with a truck bombCar bombA car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
. - Between 1978 and 1995, Theodore KaczynskiTheodore KaczynskiTheodore John "Ted" Kaczynski , also known as the "Unabomber" , is an American mathematician, social critic, anarcho-primitivist, and Neo-Luddite who engaged in a mail bombing campaign that spanned nearly 20 years, killing three people and injuring 23 others.Kaczynski was born in Chicago, Illinois,...
, known as the "Unabomber", engaged in a campaign of sending mail bombs to various people, killing three and wounding 23. He threatened to continue the bombings unless his anti-industrial manifesto was published by the New York Times, which acquiesced. - Between 1996 and 1998, Eric Robert RudolphEric Robert RudolphEric Robert Rudolph , also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is a criminal responsible for a series of bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured at least 150 others in the name of an anti-abortion and anti-gay agenda...
, a Christian IdentityChristian IdentityChristian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...
adherent, engaged in a series of attacks against civilians in the Southern United StatesSouthern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, resulting in the deaths of three people and injuries to at least 150 others. His targets included abortion clinicAbortion clinicAn abortion clinic is a medical facility that primarily performs or specializes in abortions. Such clinics may be public medical centers or private medical practices.-Canada:*There were 197 abortion providers in Canada in 2001....
s, gay nightclubsGay barA gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
, and the 1996 Olympics1996 Summer OlympicsThe 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
in AtlantaAtlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. - On February 23, 1997, Ali Hassan Abu Kamal opened fire in the observation deck of the Empire State BuildingEmpire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
, killing one and wounding six others before committing suicide. - On 10 August 1999, Buford O. Furrow, Jr.Buford O. Furrow, Jr.Buford O'Neal Furrow, Jr. is a former Aryan Nations member and security guard who perpetrated the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting in August 1999...
, a member of the white supremacist group Aryan NationsAryan NationsAryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian...
, attacked a Jewish daycareDay careChild care or day care is care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family...
in Los AngelesLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, injuring five, and subsequently shot dead a Filipino AmericanFilipino AmericanFilipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
mail carrier. - On 4 July 2002, Egyptian-American terrorist Hesham Mohamed HadayetHesham Mohamed HadayetHesham Mohamed Hadayet was an Egyptian-American terrorist who on July 4, 2002, murdered 2 people and wounded 4 others at Los Angeles International Airport in the 2002 Los Angeles Airport shooting. The two people murdered were Israelis at the El Al ticket counter at the airport, identified as a...
opened fire at an El AlEl AlEl Al Israel Airlines Ltd , trading as El Al , is the flag carrier of Israel. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights to Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East from its main base in Ben Gurion International Airport...
ticket stand at Los Angeles International AirportLos Angeles International AirportLos Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
(LAX), killing two. - On 3 March 2006, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drove a Jeep CherokeeJeep CherokeeJeep Cherokee may refer to:* Jeep Cherokee * Jeep Cherokee * Jeep Grand Cherokee , , and * Jeep Liberty, a.k.a. Jeep Cherokee...
into a crowd of students at University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, injuring nine people. Press accounts have said that he "matches the modern profile of the unaffiliated, lone-wolf terrorist" - On 28 July 2006, Naveed Afzal HaqNaveed Afzal HaqNaveed Afzal Haq is a convicted murderer who was convicted for the July 2006 Seattle Jewish Federation shooting.- Murder and hate crime conviction :...
, saying "I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel", perpetrated the Seattle Jewish Federation shooting in the BelltownBelltown, Seattle, WashingtonBelltown is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States, in the 98121 Zip Code, located on the city's downtown waterfront, on land that was artificially flattened as part of a regrading project...
neighborhood of Seattle, killing one woman and wounding five other women. - Anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder perpetrated the 31 May 2009 murder of obstetrician George Tiller.
- On 1 June 2009 Abdulhakim Mujahaid Muhammad2009 Little Rock recruiting office shootingThe 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1, 2009, when Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, opened fire with a rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a...
, an American who had converted to IslamIslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
opened fire on a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, ArkansasLittle Rock, ArkansasLittle Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, known as the 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting2009 Little Rock recruiting office shootingThe 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1, 2009, when Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, opened fire with a rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a...
. He has been indicted on one count of capital murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
in the death of Private William Long, and 15 counts of murder. Private Quinton Ezeagwula was also wounded in the attack. Preliminary investigation (as of 12 June 2009) indicated that Muhammad acted alone, though he later said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaeda in the Arabian PeninsulaAl-Qaeda in the Arabian PeninsulaAl-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was named for al-Qaeda, and says it is subordinate to that group and its now-deceased leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi citizen whose father was born in Yemen...
. - On 10 June 2009 James von BrunnUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum shootingThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting was a shooting at that nation's memorial to The Holocaust in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 2009, at 12:50 p.m. Security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, was shot, and later died from his injuries. Suspect James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, was charged...
fired a weapon into the Washington D.C. Holocaust MuseumUnited States Holocaust Memorial MuseumThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...
, resulting in the death of security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns. James von Brunn died while awaiting trial. - On 5 November 2009, police say that Nidal Malik HasanNidal Malik HasanNidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
shot and killed 13 people in an attack at Fort HoodFort Hood shootingThe Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
that wounded 30 others. - February 18, 2010, Joseph Andrew Stack III2010 Austin plane crashThe 2010 Austin suicide attack occurred on 18 February 2010, when Andrew Joseph Stack III, flying his Piper Dakota, crashed into Building I of the Echelon office complex in Austin, Texas, United States, killing himself and Internal Revenue Service manager Vernon Hunter. Thirteen others were...
flew a small personal plane into an office complex containing an IRS office in Austin, TexasAustin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
after posting a manifesto on his website stating his anti-government motives and burning his house. One person other than Stack died; 13 were injured.
External links
- Lone-Wolf terrorism, a case study by the European research consortium Transnational Terrorism, Security and the Rule of Law
- 'Lone Wolf' Attackers a New York Security Concern
- The Problem of the Lone-Wolf Terrorist
- Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004: "Lone Wolf" Amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act