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Former National Guard member charged with plotting to help ISIS

McLEAN, Va — The FBI said a former National Guard soldier from Virginia who was allegedly planning a terrorist attack on a military base came to Charlotte two weeks ago in an attempt to buy an assault rifle.

An FBI affidavit said Mohamed Jalloh, 26, who lived in Sterling, Virginia, was in contact with ISIS, and was trying to buy weapons to carry out some kind of terrorist attack.

It said Jalloh and an associate went to several locations in Charlotte on June 18, and that at one point, Jalloh found an assault rifle but the owner refused to sell it to him.

Larry Hyatt, who owns Hyatt’s gun shop on Wilkinson Boulevard, could not say if Jalloh had tried to buy an assault rifle there, but he says it is not unusual to refuse to sell a gun to someone who is otherwise qualified.

“We are the last line of defense,” Hyatt said, speaking of gun stores.

He said they gun-shop owners always size up their customers, and refuse a sale if they see a red flag.

“When you deal with thousands and thousands and thousands of people who've bought firearms, you can tell when something's not quite right,” Hyatt said.

The FBI said Jalloh was able to buy an assault rifle at a gun store in Virginia on Friday night, and that was their cue to move in and arrest him.

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