Times Union

Times Union

Times Union

A Ku Klux Klan member from near Albany, New York, was arrested on Tuesday after he allegedly designed a “death ray” that is meant to kill Muslims and other “enemies of Israel,” the, a New York State paper, reported on Wednesday.General Electric employee Glenn Crawford, 49, designed and partially built a “radiation emitting device that could be placed in the back of a van to covertly emit ionizing radiation strong enough to bring about radiation sickness or death,” according to an FBI complaint.The device could be remotely controlled and capable of silently aiming a lethal beam of radioactivity at targets, causing the victims to eventually die of radiation sickness, thereported.According to the FBI, “Crawford described the device’s capabilities as ‘Hiroshima on a light switch’ and that ‘everything with respiration would be dead by the morning.’”Crawford allegedly offered the “death ray” to synagogues and local Jewish groups as a weapon to use against “enemies of Israel.” He sought help with “a type of technology that could be used by Israel to defeat its enemies, specifically, by killing Israel’s enemies while they slept,” according to the FBI complaint.54-year-old Eric Feight, an acquaintance of Crawford’s, is accused of agreeing to help Crawford construct the electronic controls for the device.As many as six other unidentified people are suspected of assisting him.Crawford identified himself as “a member of the Ku Klux Klan, specifically, the United Northern & Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,” in a phone call recorded by the FBI. He is also a member of Tea Party group Americans Demanding Liberty and Freedom.Crawford referred to Muslims as “medical waste” and accused US President Barack Obama of “bringing the ‘muzzies’ here without background checks” in a text message monitored by the FBI.Crawford and Feight are facing up to 15 years in prison and are charged with a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, including use of a weapon of mass destruction, thereported.