Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center. (Screen capture: Google Street View)
A South Florida man charged with plotting to bomb a Miami-area synagogue and Jewish school is negotiating a plea agreement, his defense attorney said.
James Medina, 41, has been negotiating with prosecutors on a proposed guilty plea, The Associated Press reported, citing court papers filed last week. He originally had pleaded not guilty.
The FBI arrested Medina, a convert to Islam from Hollywood, on April 29, 2016, while he was approaching the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center with what he believed was a bomb. An FBI informant had furnished Medina with the real looking but fake bomb.
Medina’s family and attorney have said he is mentally ill and has previously been committed to a psychiatric hospital.
James Medina, a 41-year-old convert to Islam from Hollywood, Florida. (Screen capture: YouTube)
According to prosecutors, Medina initially planned to attack the 800-member Conservative synagogue and its school with assault rifles on Yom Kippur and was hoping to inspire other Muslims to commit terrorist attacks.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
He reportedly told an undercover FBI informant that he was prepared to kill innocent women and children.
Medina also allegedly made several videos before the planned attack on the synagogue, including one in which he said goodbye to his family, the Sun-Sentinel reported at the time of the attack.
Advertisement
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
