Local and federal police announced the arrest of Amir Safavi Farokhi in Tucson on Monday, and revealed Farokhi allegedly made violent threats against two Tucson hospitals, school buses in Arizona and Indiana, and a female employee of the Bloomington, Indiana Police Department.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed Farokhi (pictured above) made phone calls from Tucson threatening to place pipe bombs on school buses in Indiana, and apparently while speaking to the Bloomington Police Department, threatened to “rape and murder a female employee,” specifically claiming he planned to “wait outside for her at the end of her shift.”
On October 21, the DOJ claimed Farokhi’s “threatening behavior extended” to Arizona hospitals, when he escalated by allegedly calling Tucson ER Hospital and making threats “to shoot hospital staff and patients,” necessitating security precautions for the facility. On the following two days, authorities claimed Farokhi made “similar threats to Northwest Hospital in Tucson.”
Indiana media outlet Fox 59 reported that Farokhi allegedly continued making threats until at least October 24, when the 28-year-old allegedly reported leaving pipe bombs on a school bus and threatened to kill any responding police officers. They added that Farokhi allegedly told Indiana police he was “watching them through a window,” and planned to “rape (them) until (they are) dead” before assaulting their children.
Though the DOJ did not identify a motive in its press release, Farokhi reportedly demanded a specific medicine from one of the hospitals. Farokhi has been described as a Tucson man who previously lived in Indiana, and was arrested on October 25. He will next appear in court on November 9.
News of Farokhi’s arrest came one day before FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress that America faces a “whole other level” of terrorist threats due to the conflict between Hamas and Israel that erupted on October 7.
“The reality is that the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023,” Wray told lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday, before adding that “the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States” with “multiple foreign terrorist organizations” calling for “attacks against Americans and the West” in just “the past few weeks.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection published data in October that indicates at least 736 known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) were apprehended as they crossed into the United States so far in 2023, with 77 apprehended in a two-week period of September. A total of 487 were apprehended while trying to cross into the United States from Canada, while just 249 were apprehended at the southern border.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News, and also reports for The Tennessee Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
