Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, 33, of SeaTac, and Walli Mujahidh, aka Frederick Domingue Jr., 32, of Los Angeles, appeared in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday on charges alleging they purchased machine guns and grenades from a paid police informant earlier this week as they moved into the final stages of planning an attack they hoped would inspire an uprising among radical Muslims in the United States. There was a point in the alleged conspiracy to maim and kill recruits and workers at a Military Entrance Processing Station in South Seattle when one of the plotters predicted they would be making headlines. The maximum penalty for the crimes is life in prison; however, the firearms-related counts carry 30-year mandatory minimum sentences. The charges allege that Abdul-Latif had known the man for several years and believed he could help him obtain weapons he wanted to use to attack the U.S. military because of events in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. How police found out 
 
 The complaint details an escalating plot discovered by police on May 30 after Abdul-Latif approached another man who he believed shared a radical Islamic ideology. During the recorded conversations, Abdul-Latif allegedly expounded on his desire to kill Americans and said he admired Osama bin Laden. At least twice during the investigation, Abdul-Latif said the attack was inspired by the murderous shooting spree at Fort Hood in 2009, where a Muslim Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, killed 13 people and wounded 29 others. In 2003, Abdul-Latif was sentenced to five years for assaulting a prison guard in Walla Walla, while serving a two-year stint for first-degree robbery, court records show. In a statement Thursday, U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Jenny A. Durkan called the arrests “a sobering reminder of our need to be vigilant and that our first line of defense is the people who live in our community.” 
 
 "We were able to disrupt the plot because someone stepped forward and reported it to authorities,” Durkan said. The man went to Seattle police and began working with authorities as a paid informant. Writing the court, FBI Special Agent Albert C. Kelly, III, said Abdul-Latif was recorded expressing his anger about United States activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen, and saying that he believed killing American soldiers was justifiable. In Seattle, outside the military processing center Thursday afternoon, many of the 600 center employees were enjoying an annual picnic, an event that almost didn't happen because of the plot. The FBI agent told the court the plan was revealed when Abdul-Latif attempted to recruit a third person into the plot. “Abdul-Latif trusted the source and believed that the source held similar ideology,” Kelly told the court. The informant then began to divulge details of the purported plot, including that Abdul-Latif had intended to attack the Tacoma base. Mujahidh arrived in Seattle from Los Angeles on Tuesday and he, Abdul-Latif and the informant went to lunch, according to details contained in a 38-page complaint. The men were arrested after the informant delivered three automatic rifles and several grenades — all secretly rendered inoperable — to the men Tuesday night at a warehouse in Seattle. The men scouted the center and discussed in detail the attack, including plans to kill the security guard in the lobby and order everyone else to the floor. On June 14, Abdul-Latif met with the informant, who showed him several weapons provided by federal agents for a "show and tell." Mujahidh had been living in Los Angeles, but came to Seattle as the plan developed, according to the charges. They did, just not in the way intended.
– Another potential terror plot foiled: Seattle police arrested two men they say planned a suicide attack on a federal building that houses a military recruitment office and a federal day care center, report the Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Times. One suspect is identified as Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, 33, who was born Joseph Anthony Davis but changed his name in 2007 after converting to Islam and becoming "self-radicalized," police say. He idolized Osama bin Laden and raged against US military action overseas, according to court documents. The other suspect is Walli Mujahidh, 32, also known as Frederick Dominique Jr., of Los Angeles. A third Muslim man told authorities about the plot when Abdul-Latif asked him to help carry it out. He then worked undercover with police. Abdul-Latif reportedly wanted to use the 2009 Fort Hood massacre, in which 13 people were killed, as a model. “Abdul-Latif said that if one person could kill so many people, three attackers could kill many more," said an FBI agent. A detention hearing will take place next week.