FBI: Man scouted Cleveland sites for Fourth of July bomb attack

An American-born citizen who federal authorities say recently scouted locations in Cleveland to attack people watching Fourth of July fireworks and talked of carrying out additional bombings has been charged with trying to support terrorism.

Federal authorities said Monday that Demetrius Pitts had expressed his support for al-Qaida for more than a year and talked about setting off bombs at a July Fourth parade and later in his hometown, Philadelphia.

Pitts, who lived most recently in Maple Heights, Ohio, was due in federal court on Monday in Cleveland. There were no court documents listing an attorney for him, and he couldn’t be reached for comment.

Pitts was arrested Sunday after meeting an undercover agent and was charged with attempted support of a terrorist organization.

FBI agent Stephen Anthony said it was unclear how close Pitts was to carrying out his threats.

Anthony said that Pitts, 48, had been radicalized in the U.S. but he had no information that Pitts had traveled out of the country.

Authorities first began watching Pitts in 2017, when he lived in the Cincinnati area, after he made Facebook posts threatening violence against the U.S., Anthony said. Pitts moved to Cleveland in May.

Pitts began meeting with an undercover agent and discussed several ways to carry out an attack, according to court documents. Pitts also talked about his hatred for the U.S. military, Anthony said.

An undercover agent in late June gave Pitts a bus pass and a cellphone that he thought were from alQaida supporters so that he could go downtown and look for locations to carry out his attacks, according to a complaint filed by authorities.

Pitts shot videos of potential targets such as a federal building and a U.S. Coast Guard station and then turned over the phone last week, believing the photos and videos would be given to al-Qaida members, the document said.