The Department of Justice alleged in court that a Maryland software engineer had stolen a U-Haul van and that he intended to use it to kill people in the Washington area. Prosecutors included a photo of the van in a court record. (Photo: document)

WASHINGTON – Rondell Henry knew nothing about guns or explosives, federal prosecutors said, but he knew how to drive and that was enough.

One day last month, this 28-year-old computer engineer abruptly quit his job in Maryland, stole a U-Haul van that he saw on a highway and began to cross the Washington suburbs to looking for places where he could run people. Nothing seemed to his taste. Eventually, he parked at a tourist spot on the Potomac River called National Harbor and waited, according to the court documents.

His plan, after two years of monitoring the Islamic State on the Internet, was to harm the "disbelievers," he said.

"I was just going to continue driving," Henry told investigators, according to court records. "I was not going to stop."

His plan was neither sophisticated nor elaborate. The local police found the stolen truck, waited for his return and stopped.

But experts have said that this is the type of plan – radicalized solitary wolves online that need only a few tools or training – which are the most difficult types of terrorist attacks to prevent.

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"Because there is no real conspiracy.If the individual does not boast on the Internet to do something, that is to say, not to attract the & # 39; Beware of itself, so there is no indicator, "said Brian Jenkins, director of Mineta Transportation Institute's National Transportation Safety Center, and an expert on terrorists aimed at vulnerable targets, such as shopping centers or railway stations. "There is no alarm signal to warn the authorities that something was happening."

Attacks on cars and trucks require little skill or planning and are becoming a more common method of terrorist attacks in the United States and Western Europe. Terrorists who use trucks do not need to find explosives or know how to assemble a bomb. Anyone with a vehicle can go anywhere in the crowd and can do it with very little foresight, Jenkins said.

An analysis conducted by the National Transportation Safety Center of the Mineta Transportation Institute found that of the nearly 80 car attacks perpetrated against random groups of people over the last four decades, 30 occurred in 2017 and during the first four months of 2018. The analysis incidents covered in 19 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, China, Japan and the countries of Western Europe.

"What we are seeing is an increase in the number of local terrorists using very, very primitive tactics against random targets … The reason we see it is that there is an exhortation of these jihadist groups like Al Qaeda, like ISIS, inspire local terrorists to do whatever they can, wherever they are, "Jenkins said.

"They are extremely hard to prevent, it's an individual, there is no intelligence system," added Jenkins. "There is no radar for the soul of a man."

In Henry's case, the authorities said he harbored hatred against people who do not practice Islam. He watched videos of foreign terrorists beheading civilians abroad and sought to imitate them in accordance with a motion to keep him in custody. He was also aware of the terrorist attack in Nice, France, where a terrorist went through a crowd, killing dozens of people, and wanted to copy that.

Until now, Henry is only accused of having transported the U-Haul stolen into Maryland. But in court documents filed Monday, Maryland's attorneys have established a much more serious crime.

According to the authorities, Henry left his job Tuesday in Germantown, Maryland, and skirted the Washington metropolitan area in his four-door sedan in search of the vehicle strong enough to cause the most damage. He spotted a U-Haul van in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington, followed it to his storage place and stole it. He drove by car, evaluating targets that would attract the most media coverage, according to court records.

Henry wanted to create "panic and chaos," he told investigators – like "what happened in France."

He settled at the Dulles International Airport, where he arrived early Wednesday morning. There were no people at the airport at that time, so, according to the authorities, Henry got out of the van and tried to pass the security of the airport. He failed. Then he returned to the van and drove over 30 miles to the National Harbor in Maryland, where he waited for a larger crowd.

Henry broke into a nearby boat and spent the night, according to court records. The next morning, the police found the stolen U-Haul and waited for Henry. The police found him in his car, a blue BMW that he had left in the same garage where he had stolen the pickup truck.

Henry is scheduled for a detention hearing on Thursday.

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