Federal prosecutors dismissed claims from the attorney of an Illinois teen Thursday that undercover FBI agents entrapped his client, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Although Ahmed Daoud pulled the trigger on what he thought was a car bomb outside a Chicago bar, he only did so because he was manipulated by undercover FBI agents, the attorney argued.
“He talked about how many people he wanted killed in this attack,” Assistant U.S. Attorney William Ridgway said during a detention hearing Thursday. “With every step, the defendant was pushing this operation forward. The defendant stood firm.”
Prosecutors said the FBI didn’t become involved until after Daoud, who turned 19 today, continually expressed an interest in waging violent jihad against Americans, according to the Tribune.