[TheBlaze] Video shows a woman attacking a Tampa police officer with a knife, days after her brother was arrested for planning a terror attack on Florida beach.Following the nationwide protests over the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, there is a laser focus on civilians who bit the dust in encounters with law enforcement. There was a police shooting this week where a woman died after she attacked a cop with a knife. In a strange twist, the Florida woman was the sister of a man who was arrested this week after allegedly planning terror attacks in the Tampa area.
On Friday, a woman was sitting at a bench outside the City Hall of Temple Terrace, a town next to Tampa. Surveillance video shows a Temple Terrace Police officer approach the woman, and she springs up and swipes at him with a knife. She lunges at him a second time, and the officer retreats, but she pursues him.
The woman and the man left the field of view of the surveillance camera. A second Temple Terrace Police officer appears in the frame of the camera, and he seems to be wielding a handgun.
The woman, identified as 22-year-old Heba Momtaz al-Azhari, was shot by police and later died at the hospital. The officer sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the attack.
Temple Terrace Police Chief Kenneth Albano said that he was in his third-floor office and heard the officer command the woman to drop the knife numerous times.
The deadly encounter is under investigation.
Spectrum Bay News 9 reported that al-Azhari is the sister of a man who was accused of plotting acts of terrorism this week. The Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that they had charged Muhammed Momtaz al-Azhari, 23, with "attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, namely, the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)."
Muhammed Momtaz al-Azhari was allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in the Tampa Bay area, including one on Honeymoon Island, a popular beach park.
The terror attacks were foiled by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, as well as local police departments and sheriff's offices. The suspect, who allegedly has a criminal history that includes prior terrorism charges in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, attempted to purchase multiple firearms during the investigation before "acquiring a Glock pistol and a silencer."
FBI agents arrested the suspect on May 24. If convicted, Muhammed Momtaz al-Azhari faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
A family spokesperson said Heba Momtaz al-Azhari was upset over her brother's arrest earlier this week.
#BREAKING: Tampa man arrested before committing mass shooting in support of ISIS, DOJ says https://t.co/Z63ONjZlxa pic.twitter.com/n8x3FRZwfR
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) May 27, 2020
| Update from the Daily Mail at 8:50 p.m., courtesy of Skidmark, with more, particularly about arrested brother Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari: |
Prior to his arrest of the state charge, FBI agents interviewed some of his co-workers at the home improvement store, who expressed concern about statements that the suspect had made concerning Islam, guns and violence.
A supervisor told agents that when speaking about the September 11 attacks, Al-Azhari had said that he believed that Americans got what they deserved that day, according to the affidavit.
The same supervisors also allegedly overheard Al-Azhari speaking to other co-workers about jihad, saying that it involved 'defending Islam.'
Another colleague at the Home Depot had reported Al-Azhari to corporate security, claiming that he tried to convince his co-workers to convert to Islam, and that he 'spoke negatively and passionately about the United States and homosexuality.'