A University of Delaware student was arrested after police found a handgun, ammunition and written plans for an attack in his vehicle that included references to “martyrdom” and named a campus police officer as a target, authorities say.
Luqmaan Khan, 25, had a notebook containing writings about “urban warfare,” according to an FBI complaint filed in the case. A later search of his home turned up a scoped rifle, body armor and a handgun modified with an illegal machine gun conversion device known as a “switch,” the complaint said.
Khan has been in federal custody since his arrest on Nov. 24 at Canby Park West in Wilmington, when he was stopped by New Castle County police. Authorities said he was parked unlawfully and that he appeared nervous and was uncooperative when confronted. Police detained him and found the weapon, a firearm brace kit and the notebook in a later search of the vehicle.
The notebook also listed combat tactics for various weapons and a sketch of the University of Delaware Police Department building, according to a police statement.
Authorities said Khan told them that becoming a martyr was “one of the greatest things you can do.”
“I commend the devoted officers with the New Castle County Police Department whose exceptional actions led to Khan’s arrest before anyone was harmed,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, of the Baltimore office, said in a statement.
Khan is scheduled for a detention hearing on Dec. 11. The Wilmington resident has no prior arrests, the complaint said.
Eleni Kousoulis, the federal public defender in Delaware who is representing Khan, did not immediately return a message left at her office Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.