Southern California terror plot: What we know about the group Turtle Island Liberation Front
Four people arrested last week who are suspected of planning coordinated bomb attacks across Southern California are part of anti-capitalist and anti-government group called the “Turtle Island Liberation Front,” federal officials said Monday.
The group’s Instagram page, which has 939 followers, features images with the phrases “Death to America” and “Peaceful Protest Will Never Be Enough.”
A video on the posted on the Instagram account features a woman, who only identifies as “Mary,” explaining the group’s name.
“So that’s what the natives called it – was Turtle Island,” the person, whose face is concealed, says in the video. “So that’s the de-colonized name of the Americas. And Turtle Island Liberation Front is looking for reparations and land back for these indigenous groups.”
The FBI said Monday, agents arrested Audrey Carroll, Zachary Page, Dante Gaffield and Tina Lai last week in Lucerne Valley when the suspects gathered in the desert to build pipe bombs.
Retired LAPD Counter-Terrorism Officer Mike Downing said the threat from plots like these are real.
“I still think you have extremes on both ends that present danger to this country,” Downing said. “And you cannot take the eye off the ball. And if you are only focusing on one part of the spectrum, you are going to be blind to the other — and surprised by what happens.”
Officials released photos from a search of Carroll’s home on Monday, which showed posters and materials associated with TILF including one reading “DEATH TO ICE” and another reading “DEATH TO AMERICA, LONG LIVE TURTLE ISLAND & PALESTINE.” The anti-ICE poster was also posted to the group’s Instagram account, which investigators say Carroll managed.
U.S. Department of Justice
According to the criminal complaint, Carroll allegedly told an FBI informant that she has a, “notebook where I wrote down multiple plans that never happened … so it’s like my terrorist diary.”
Downing said bomb plots like this one are hard to infiltrate and intercept.
“There are sources and methods to get into these groups, but it takes a long time,” he explained.
In the criminal complaint, Carrol said she had a contact who could help them obtain unregistered guns. She also claimed that one member of the Turtle Island Liberation Front is a former military service member who might be able to get them weapon parts.
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