Current:Home > InvestDistrict attorney’s office staffer tried to make a bomb to blow up migrant shelter, police say-InfoLens
District attorney’s office staffer tried to make a bomb to blow up migrant shelter, police say
View Date:2024-12-23 12:32:10
NEW YORK (AP) — A paralegal at a New York City district attorney’s office has been arrested after he attempted to make an explosive to bomb a migrant shelter located across from his apartment, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.
Police said Derek Klever, a 27-year-old who worked as a trial preparation assistant at the Queens District Attorney’s office, had grown frustrated with partying at the Kamway Lodge in Elmhurst, a small hostel that the city has been using to temporarily house migrants arriving from the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
“I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but it’s for Queens County,” he said, according to the court filing. “This is a war. I wish I had a big enough one to blow them back to Venezuela.”
Klever confided to an unnamed acquaintance that he had purchased fireworks and was going to combine their contents with nails, gasoline and other materials to create rudimentary explosives.
“I’m not trying to kill but injure,” he said. “I need to teach them a lesson.”
Klever claimed he had tested a version of the homemade explosive and was considering using a drone to drop multiple bombs on the unsuspecting residents in the shelter.
Police said Klever’s fiancé consented to a search of the apartment earlier this week, where they recovered a BB gun in a child’s bedroom and various fireworks inside a closet in a larger bedroom.
Subsequent searches turned up other bomb-making materials, including explosive substances from disassembled fireworks that had been wrapped in tin foil, long nail cartridges that were also wrapped in foil, BB pellets and green wire, according to the complaint.
Klever was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child, among other counts.
He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday, and his next court date is Oct. 4.
Klever, though his lawyer, declined to comment Friday.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz’s office also declined to comment other than to say Klever has been fired and the investigation is ongoing.
Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, which advocates for migrants, said the case underscores the how anti-immigrant rhetoric promoted by some city leaders can lead to violence.
The city shelter system currently houses more than 60,000 migrants and has taken in more than 200,000 total since the spring of 2022.
“Every New Yorker, regardless of when they arrived here, deserves to live a life free of violence and threats to their safety,” Awawdeh said in a statement. “Our leaders must do better, and stop scapegoating asylum seekers for any perceived problem in New York City.”
veryGood! (716)
Related
- 24 more monkeys that escaped from a South Carolina lab are recovered unharmed
- How One of the Nation’s Fastest Growing Counties Plans to Find Water in the Desert
- Texas attorney sentenced to 6 months in alleged abortion attempt of wife's baby
- Wayne Kramer, late guitarist of rock band MC5, also leaves legacy of bringing music to prisons
- Jennifer Hudson, Kylie Minogue and Billy Porter to perform at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade
- Police in a Maine city ask residents to shelter in place after gunfire at a busy intersection
- At Texas border rally, fresh signs the Jan. 6 prosecutions left some participants unbowed
- 5.7 earthquake reported on big island of Hawaii
- Bradley Cooper and Gigi Hadid Enjoy a Broadway Date Night and All that Jazz
- Kylie Kelce Reveals Whether Her and Jason Kelce's Kids Will Be at Super Bowl 2024
Ranking
- UFC 309: Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight card, odds, how to watch, date
- New Jersey teen sues classmate for allegedly creating, sharing fake AI nudes
- Ban lifted on book displays celebrating Black history, Pride Month in SW Louisiana city
- Millions of clothing steamers recalled for posing a burn hazard from hot water expulsion
- Bridgerton's Luke Newton Details His Physical Transformation for Season 3's Leading Role
- Optimism about the U.S. economy sends stocks to a new record
- Teen Mom's Kailyn Lowry Reveals Names of Her Newborn Twins
- Will Beyoncé's new hair care line, Cécred, cater to different hair textures?
Recommendation
-
Cameron Brink set to make Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut
-
'Pretty in Pink's' Jon Cryer and Andrew McCarthy ended their famous feud on 'The View'
-
Jury in Young Dolph murder trial will come from outside of Memphis, Tennessee, judge rules
-
Arizona governor signs bill giving counties more time to count votes amid concerns over recounts
-
Kraft Heinz stops serving school-designed Lunchables because of low demand
-
Sofía Vergara and Joe Manganiello Settle Divorce After 6 Months
-
Police say an Amazon driver shot a dog in self-defense. The dog’s family hired an attorney.
-
Good thing, wings cost less and beer's flat: Super Bowl fans are expected to splurge