Christopher Lee Cornell (born 1994), also known as Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, was an American convert to Islam from Ohio who planned to wage violent jihad in the United States in support of the Islamic State in the Middle East. On 14 January 2015, he was arrested for planning to assassinate several Congressmen.
Biography[]
Christopher Lee Cornell was born in Green Township, Ohio, in the United States in 1994 to a Christian family. Cornell later converted to Islam and his father John said that he found peace with the religion, but he later became a radical. In August 2014 he began to talk with the Islamic State online, and he stated that Muslims in America had to form their own jihadist group in America to carry out jihadist attacks. Cornell attempted to obtain permission from the Islamic State to carry out attacks, but when he did not get permission, he decided that he would plan a jihadist attack in the United States. The FBI investigated him and an informant revealed to them that he was in contact with other jihadists at the time, and on 14 January 2015 he was arrested for attempting to purchase firearms for his planned attack against congressmen in Washington, D.C. Both of his parents expressed doubt that he ever planned to become a violent jihadist, although the FBI seized two computers and lots of information on him, giving incriminating evidence that he was, in fact, in communication with people in the Middle East and was indeed planning to carry out a violent terrorist attack in the Capital.