Father: Terror plot suspect was a 'momma's boy'

Scroll to the bottom to read the arrest documents and complaint against Christopher Lee Cornell.

Tom Willingham didn't know what to think when the FBI approached him about helping them arrest someone they suspected of wanting to commit a terrorist act on U.S. soil.

"Nobody knew enough to be scared," said Willingham, president and CEO of Point Blank Range & Gun Shop. "We knew everyone (law enforcement) was in place."

Willingham's employees sold two semi-automatic rifles at about 11 a.m. Wednesday to Christopher Lee Cornell, also known as Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, at the Colerain Township location.

"We did not know (Cornell). He came in for a purchase," Willingham said.

After the gun store employees ran Cornell's name through the national background check system to ensure he had no criminal record and was eligible to buy guns – "Not anyone can come in and buy a gun and walk out," Willingham said – Cornell was sold what Willingham called "sporting rifles." In addition to the M-15 rifles, Cornell also bought 600 rounds of ammunition.

When Cornell left the store and walked to the parking lot of the business in the 7200 block of Harrison Avenue, he was arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Cornell, 20, of Green Township, is accused of using cyberspace to plot to assassinate Congressional employees and attack the U.S. Capitol for his personal jihad. He was charged with attempted killing of U.S. government officers and possession of firearms in furtherance of an attempted crime of violence.

He's being held in the Butler County Jail without bail.

John Cornell of Green Township said he is skeptical of the charges brought against his son and the manner in which the FBI sought evidence in the case.

The FBI entered the Cornell house and took possession of two desktop computers, one laptop and four cellphones.

The Cornell family home was clearly disturbed by Wednesday's events – they struggled to keep up with media requests into the night and mentions of Christopher Cornell were often accompanied by tears.

The man described in FBI documents and connected with a terrorist plot against the U.S. Capitol – that's not the son John Cornell knows, he said.

Christopher was a "momma's boy who never left the house," Cornell told The Enquirer.

John Cornell, not a Muslim himself, also described frequent incidents of abuse Christopher endured as a practicing Muslim.

Christopher attended Masjid Abue Baker Siddikue mosque on Harrison Avenue in South Fairmount, his parents said, adding he "found peace in the religion."

"Everything you're hearing in the media right now, they've already painted him as some kind of terrorist," John Cornell said. ... "They've painted him as some kind of jihadist. ... (Christopher) is one of the most peace-loving people I know."

Christopher still had a room in the family home – an apartment at 6553 Hearne Road – that he came back to every day.

John Cornell sat up from a living room sofa and angrily described the abuse his son faced as a practicing Muslim. Christopher's long beard and traditional Muslim head dress made him an easy target, John Cornell said.

"We always see the looks people give my son," John Cornell said. "One time, he was just walking across the street to the store and people driving by threw (objects) at him. Hey, that's my son and I love him just the same."

John Cornell also told of some of Christopher's interpretations of his faith as a practicing Muslim. For instance, Christopher did not support gay marriage because of his religion, John Cornell told The Enquirer, and he likely offended his peers when speaking on the subject of religion.

John Cornell said he told Christopher to never speak of religion or politics in public, adding he still loves his son despite Wednesday's federal charges and his son's apparent outspoken nature.

The Oak Hills Local School District released a statement on Thursday morning regarding Cornell, who graduated from Oak Hills High School in 2012, describing Cornell as a "typical student."

"Christopher was not a disruption or a discipline problem in the school," said Oak Hills Principal John Stoddard in the release. "His teachers were shocked at the news of his involvement in this situation."

Stoddard added that other teachers remembered Cornell as quiet, but not overly reserved, and a student that typically participated in class work.

The U.S. arrest comes during a highly charged period, as French investigators are conducting a search for possible ISIL and al-Qaeda links to last week's deadly attack on the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo.

Al-Qaida's franchise in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed credit for the French attack in which the suspects claimed to be acting on behalf of the al-Qaeda group in Yemen. A third suspect claimed allegiance to the Islamic State. The three were killed by French police Friday following tense hostage standoffs.

"I applaud the FBI and other law enforcement officials on their work to thwart this potential terrorist act," said U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) in a statement Wednesday night. "It is an important reminder of the very real threat that radical Islam continues to pose to the homeland."

Cornell case: Here's what we know; don't know

One local Islamic official said she was not familiar with Cornell.

"I haven't heard of him," Karen Dabdoub, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Cincinnati chapter.

Colerain Township police, who wouldn't comment Wednesday, said they would release information on the arrest Thursday.

The FBI has been monitoring Cornell's activities for about six months with the help of an informant who was facing possible criminal charges and wanted leniency. Cornell, using his alias, posted pro-jihadist videos and statements on several Twitter accounts.

He also actively used those accounts to express his support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL. That group has been declared a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" group by the U.S. State Department.

"I believe that we should just wage jihad under our own orders and plan attacks and everything," Cornell wrote in an Aug. 29, 2014, Instant Message online, the FBI alleges.

In the same series of messages to the informant, Cornell also is accused of saying he didn't think he'd get "specific authorization" to wage jihad within the U.S. but had been in contact about that with "persons overseas." Because he didn't have authorization he believed he needed, Cornell, the FBI alleges, said he would create a violent act of jihad in the U.S. to show his support for ISIL.

Later, Cornell told the informant he then thought he had approval to perform violent jihad with the instant message "we already got a thumbs up from the Brothers over there and Anwar al Awlaki before his martyrdom and many others."

Awlaki was American-born but moved to Yemen where he was an imam and powerful Islamic militant, accused of being a high-level planner of terrorists acts with connections to terrorists who planned and carried out the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers. He also was recruiter of Islamic men who blew themselves and others up in an attempt to show support for their religious beliefs that included punishing others who had angered them. Awlaki was killed in 2011 in an American drone strike in Yemen.

"I believe we should meet up and make our own group in alliance with the Islamic State here and plan operations ourselves," Cornell is alleged to have written online to the informant.

The informant was with Cornell in October and insisted he wanted to "move" and perform the terrorist act in December. That's when Cornell is accused of showing the informant jihadist videos about how to make pipe bombs.

They met again in November when Cornell said he believed members of the U.S. Congress were "enemies" worthy of attack. He also discussed an attack on the U.S. Capitol building. He discussed with the informant going to Washington, D.C., to do reconnaissance so they could plant pipe bombs there and, after the explosions, shoot and kill officials and employees there.

Cornell saved his money to buy the guns and did so Wednesday as the last step before going to Washington to execute the deadly attacks.

Cornell's attorney didn't immediately respond to a Wednesday request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Speaker of the House John Boehner, Kara Hauck, said after Cornell's arrest, "Once again, the entire Congress owes a debt of gratitude to the FBI and all those who keep us safe."

Kevin Johnson from USA Today contributed to this story.