Apparent Islamic Center Assault Averted
By Jim Kirksey and Virginia
Culver
Denver Post Staff Writers
May 13 - A sharp-eyed SWAT sergeant may have averted tragedy
early Wednesday when he
found a man armed with a small arsenal and bomb-making materials
outside the Islamic Center.
When the man - Jack Merlyn Modig, 39 - was arrested after a long
car chase and a fight in his
basement apartment in Denver, he told officers, "I am an
enemy against the Islamic Nation, and I
was going to take care of business,'' said Arapahoe County
Sheriff Pat Sullivan.
In his white Oldsmobile Cutlass, authorities found a 12-gauge
Mossberg shotgun, a Savage
7mm bolt-action rifle and two Ruger 9mm semiautomatic pistols in
sideby-side holsters. All the
weapons were loaded. Also found in the car were eight loaded 9mm
magazines; two
22-inch-long machetes; a 7-inch-long survival knife; 849 rounds
of ammunition; components to
make bombs, including 30 gallons of gasoline, tape, cheesecloth
for fuses, batteries, wire, and
flares; and black clothing.
"He was there to torch it (the center) . . . and to kill
Iraqis,'' Sullivan said. Modig claimed some
connection with the anti-government Common Law Court and a
militia, but investigators don't
believe anyone else was with him Wednesday.
"He claims to have worked for the federal government,
supplying intelligence information on
Iraqis,'' Sullivan said.
Sullivan and members of the Denver-area religious community
praised sheriff's Sgt. Terry
Reibeling and Denver police Sgt. Pauline Bush for wrestling the
6-foot, 220-pound Modig into
submission without anyone getting hurt.
"This could have been another horrible situation like what
happened at Columbine High
School,'' said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on
AmericanIslamic Relations in
Washington, D.C.
"It is scary,'' said Talibbudin Syed, president of the
Colorado Muslim Society, which owns the
mosque, at 2071 S. Parker Road in unincorporated Arapahoe County.
"A major, major thing
was prevented because of the efforts of the officers.''
Mosque leaders said they will meet to discuss increased security
at the site.
About 12:35 a.m., Reibeling spotted the Cutlass with its lights
out at the entrance of the Islamic
Center, the sheriff's department reported.
When the sergeant pulled in behind the Oldsmobile, it drove away,
and Reibeling turned on his
overhead lights in an attempt to stop the vehicle. But Modig
refused to stop, and he reportedly
tried to ram Reibeling's car and two other patrol cars that
joined the chase.
They followed Modig until they lost him near East Center Avenue
and South University
Boulevard, Sullivan said. Denver police located the car and the
suspect as he was going into a
house at 1344 S. Fillmore St.
The owner of the home, William McCarthy, allowed Reibeling and
Bush into the house, and
they confronted Modig in his rented basement room.
Interfaith leaders supported the Muslim community.
"This kind of behavior is alarming and intolerable,'' said
the Rev. Lucia Guzman, director of the
Colorado Council of Churches. "There seem to be more and
more of these incidents that portray
hate and divisiveness. They are a sign that the various religious
communities need to do more to
combat hate.''
Saul Rosenthal of the Anti-Defamation League also commended the
officers for "capturing what
appears to be someone with dangerous ideas and an interest in
acting on them violently. We are
very fortunate that this potential terrorist was stopped before
he could act.''
Rosenthal said Modig appears to have had ties to the Colorado
Common Law Court, whose
members conduct bogus judicial proceedings and disseminate phony
legal documents. In
extreme cases, they have charged government officials with
treason and other crimes.
Three years ago, employees of KBPI radio station burst into the
mosque playing "The
Star-Spangled Banner'' on brass instruments. The employees were
ridiculing former Denver
Nuggets player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who refused to stand for the
national anthem. Abdul
Rauf didn't belong to the mosque, but the Nation of Islam.
Modig is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail for investigation of
possession of explosive devices,
three counts of attempted vehicular assault, eluding, carrying
concealed weapons and ethnic
intimidation. The sheriff's department is requesting the bail be
raised to $500,000.
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