Dec 10, 2006 4:43 pm US/Central
Mom Of Rockford Terror Suspect Speaks Out
ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) ―
The man accused of plotting to carry out a holiday grenade attack on shoppers at a Rockford mall was a Muslim convert whose growing interest in radical views worried his mother, according to a published report.
"I don't believe that my son purposely has done anything wrong," Marie Dunn told the Daily Herald. "I believe he has gotten involved with the wrong people. ... I don't know who he's running with."
Dunn said she wasn't surprised when her 22-year-old son, Derrick Shareef, converted seven years ago, because his father was a member of the Nation of Islam.
"He comes from a Muslim background," said Dunn, who described herself as Christian. A telephone listing for Dunn in Genoa was unlisted.
But Dunn said she was shocked when she heard Friday that Shareef had been charged with trying to trade two stereo speakers for a 9 mm pistol and the four hand grenades authorities say he wanted set off in garbage cans at the CherryVale shopping mall in Rockford, about 90 miles northwest of Chicago.
"I don't know what's going on," Dunn told the Rockford Register Star on Saturday. "The first time I heard about it was from a reporter."
Shareef didn't graduate from high school but earned his GED, Dunn said. He worked at a video game and electronics store in Rockford, where he moved two months ago after living "on and off" in Genoa with Dunn's husband and two other children, she said.
FBI officials said the agency was tipped by an acquaintance of Shareef, after Shareef allegedly told the person he wanted to "commit acts of violent jihad," according to the affidavit.
Authorities arrested Shareef Wednesday when he tried to make the trade with an undercover agent in a Rockford parking lot.
Shareef was charged Friday with one count of attempting to damage or destroy a building by fire or explosion and one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, and was ordered held without bail.
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