Advertisement DOJ: West Chester man plotted to kill U.S. military official, attack local police station Man pledged support to ISIL Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A West Chester man has pleaded guilty to plotting to kill a U.S. military official and attack a local police station, the U.S. Department of Justice says.Munir Abdulkader, 21, along with a member of the Islamic State group, formulated a plan to abduct a military official at the home and film the official's execution, authorities said.Watch the latest storyAfter the execution, Abdulkader planned to attack a local police station with firearms and Molotov cocktails.Abdulkader was arrested by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force on May 21, 2015. He pleaded guilty in March 2016 to attempted murder of a government employee, material support of a foreign terrorist group and possession of a firearm in furtherance of an attempted crime of violence.He is set to be sentenced in October and faces from five years to life in prison. He was being held at the Butler County Jail Thursday.According to court documents unsealed Thursday, the attack plan was orchestrated by Junaid Hussein, an ISIL recruiter with whom Abdulkader was in contact, the DOJ said.Hussein was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Syria in August 2015.The DOJ said that Abdulkader had begun preparing for the attack by conducting surveillance of the unnamed Ohio police station, practicing shooting at a shooting range, buying an AK-47 and asking someone, identified as a confidential informant, to buy him a vest to hold ammunition.Abdulkader posted on Twitter that he had a cousin who died fighting for ISIL. He also used the Twitter account to post statements, videos and other content supporting ISIL, according to court documents.Abdulkader pledged his support to ISIL on Twitter and spoke to an informant about wanting to travel to Syria and join ISIL, officials said.Court documents revealed that previously, Abdulkader secured a passport, saved money for the trip and researched the logistics of traveling to join ISIL before abandoning that plan in 2015 after seeing others with similar plans being arrested.According to new documents, Abdulkader told a confidential informant he definitely wanted to be a fighter "for sure, for sure, for sure," and knew there were big consequences. When the informant asked Abdulkader if he considered other jobs if he couldn't be a fighter, documents showed Abdulkader said martyrdom was the only thing on his mind.Abdulkader became a U.S. citizen in 2006 and graduated from Lakota East High School.The name he used at that time is spelled slightly different than what court documents use.He attended Xavier University from 2013-2015. It's not clear what Abdulkader studied at Xavier. The university said privacy laws prevent it from releasing the information.“Munir Abdulkader was a registered student at Xavier from fall 2013 to spring 2015," a Xavier spokesperson said in a written statement. "Because of student privacy laws, there is nothing more the university can say about the student. I can tell you that university officials have conferred with the FBI, and at no time were our students or campus at risk of harm.”The Islamic Center of Cincinnati told WLWT that Abdulkader is not listed on its membership rolls or in any other officially organized group activities. It also condemned the plot and said it has zero tolerance for illegal activities.NOTE: The Department of Justice spelled the man's name differently from Lakota East High School, so WLWT is working to confirm the correct spelling.FULL COURT DOCUMENTSPlea agreementDetailed charges