PHOENIX — A man accused of concocting a terroristic plot targeting Muslim or Jewish places of worship on the next major religious holiday was arrested after others alerted police about his alleged plans.
Matthew Bjornholt, 27, was arrested on Sept. 29 after he told someone about the planned mass attack, that involved planting a bomb at a place of worship to distract from a larger bomb that would go off shortly after at another place of worship nearby, court documents said.
Bjornholt and an accomplice planned to start “picking off” people who fled from the explosions, documents stated.
He referred to his copy of The Anarchist Cookbook, a book that contains instructions on how to manufacture explosives and other illicit devices, as “The Bible” and viewed the man behind the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand as a god, the friend told authorities.
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The FBI also received a tip that said Bjornholt’s family was so concerned about his behavior that some members avoided their own home, documents said. Bjornholt was associated with white supremacists, the tip added.
Police searched Bjornholt’s home where they discovered three firearms and documents with bomb-making instructions, records said.
Bjornholt was booked into jail Oct. 16 on one count of making a terrorist threat, according to jail records.
Defense attorney calls allegations 'hearsay'
Maricopa County prosecutor Stephen Garcia asked the county Superior Court to impose a $500,000 cash-only bond for Bjornholt due to the nature of the charge, concerns over the community's safety and Bjornholt being a potential flight risk.
Charles Shell, Bjornholt's attorney, fervently repudiated Garcia's comments during his client's initial appearance hearing Oct. 16 and argued prosecutors lacked any evidence to back up the charge of making a terrorist threat and noted that the FBI didn't recommend any federal charges against Bjornholt.
"My client gave the FBI access to everything," Shell told Commissioner Daniel Fenzel in court. "All his phones, all his electronic devices. The FBI's gone through all of that."
The tip to the FBI came from a man Bjornholt had described as a "homeless alcoholic" whom he allowed to sleep on his couch before Bjornholt kicked him out Sept. 27, Shell said. Bjornholt also legally owned the three firearms law enforcement discovered, possessed no more than 20 rounds for each gun and didn't have any bomb-making materials, Shell added.
While Bjornholt made certain comments about his own well-being to his father on Sept. 29 that prompted his father to call law enforcement, that was out of concern for what Bjornholt might do to himself — not others, the defense attorney said.
"He never made any of these terroristic statements at any time to anybody," Shell said. "It's all made up."
Fenzel acknowledged the arguments made by both parties and found enough evidence existed to establish probable cause but not for the $500,000 cash-only bond Garcia sought. He instead imposed a $100,000 secured-appearance bond.
