TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa man accused of plotting a mass shooting in support of the ISIS terrorist group has been ruled incompetent to stand trial at this time.
A federal magistrate judge made that ruling on Jan. 13.
In a status hearing Tuesday morning with Federal District Court Judge Tom Barber, the federal defender for Muhammed Al-Azhari said his competency restoration could take anywhere from four to eight months. Until Al-Azhari is returned to competency, both federal prosecutors and the defense said they would continue working on the case.
According to federal investigators, Al-Azhari tried to buy multiple guns before getting a Glock pistol and a silencer. He expressed "admiration" for the Pulse nightclub shooter, according to law enforcement.
Investigators said Al-Azhar scoped out potential targets like Honeymoon Island and the FBI's Tampa Field Office. They also said he researched Clearwater Beach, Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa and the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.
According to law enforcement, he even rehearsed parts of the planned attack.
Court documents describe Al-Azhari as an ISIS supporter who "consumed ISIS propaganda and spoke favorably" about the terror group.
The FBI arrested him on May 24 and seized his weapons.
He was indicted in June 2021. Al-Azhari, who was 23 at the time of his arrest, faces charges of attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization and with violations of the National Firearms Act. If convicted, he would face up to 40 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors.
Al-Azhari is currently being held in the Hernando County Jail until he's placed in a federal medical center to begin his competency training.
He has previous terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia.
In a motion to determine his competency, federal defenders for Al-Azhari argued he has a long history of untreated mental illness saying that he was imprisoned and tortured as a teenager by Saudi authorities.
“In the Saudi prison he began to experience visual hallucinations and to talk to people who were not there. After his release from prison his paranoia and delusions worsened, and he took to sleeping by the front door at night and waking up in panic, thinking that the FBI or Saudi spies were going to kill him. He was never formally examined or treated until adulthood, in large part because of cultural disapproval of mental health treatment within his family,” the defense wrote.
They said an outside expert they brought in to examine Al-Azhari found that he suffers from schizophrenia among other mental health issues.
Al-Azhari will be placed in a federal medical center and has a maximum of four months to undergo competency restoration. At that time, it will be determined if Al-Azhari will be competent for trial.
In Tuesday's status hearing, federal defender Samuel Landes told Judge Barber that, in his experience, placement in a federal medical center can take time with bed space and complications linked to COVID. He said the entire process from placement to completing treatment could take up to 8 months.