A 28-year-old former pizza shop employee living in Houston, Texas, has been indicted for attempting to provide support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorist group, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas.
Click2Houston reported that Anas Said formerly worked at the Pizza Patron shop on South Eldridge Parkway near Westheimer. His former manager said that Said made dough in the back of the shop. He said that Said’s brother also worked at the store.
Court documents indicate that multiple social media accounts linked to Said contained messages that revealed he supported ISIS and its violent attacks. Per the National Counterterrorism Center, “ISIS is a Salafi-jihadist group that has conducted and inspired terrorist attacks worldwide, resulting in thousands killed or injured.”
Through a search of Said as well as his residence, vehicle and electronic devices, law enforcement found evidence of creation and dissemination of propaganda on behalf of ISIS. Click2Houston said that Said is depicted as “strongly antisemitic in court documents.”
These documents indicate Said considered purchasing a gun, that he researched military recruitment facilities, and that he scouted a one specific location on Westheimer Road. He reportedly considered asking military members if they supported Israel or if they had been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq and killed Muslims there, and then killing people who said yes.
Said’s reportedly lawyer denied that his client is capable of terrorist activity.
“I will tell you directly that if he is the biggest local threat to our national security, then I am sleeping pretty good at night, because I just don’t think my client has the capacity to carry out any type of terrorist activity plan anything,” said his Said’s criminal defense attorney, Baldemar Zuniga, told KPRC 2 Investigator Joel Eisenbaum.
Still, Said was arrested last Friday and he faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum fine if he is convicted, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas said. His lawyer said that he expects the case to go to trial in February 2025, per Click2Houston.