John Bacon

USA TODAY

Three Kansas men accused of plotting to blow up an apartment complex housing scores of Somalis may have hoped to inspire more attacks on Muslims, but some Garden City residents say just the opposite is happening in their community.

A federal magistrate in Wichita on Monday ordered Curtis Allen and Gavin Wright, both 49, and Patrick Eugene Stein, 47, to remain in custody pending hearings in coming days. The men hoped the attack, planned for the day after next month's presidential election, would "wake people up" to a perceived Islamic threat and inspire other militia groups to commit similar violent acts, according to the federal complaint unsealed Friday.

Halima Farah, 26, lives in the targeted complex. She said news of the plot rocked the Somali community of about 500 people in the western Kansas city of about 25,000.

"It was so scary," she told USA TODAY. "Garden City is small and peaceful. I love living here. I didn't think something like that could happen here."

None of the suspects is from Garden City. Farah said authorities assured the community that the plot had been foiled and they should feel safe. Neighbors also showed support.

"People have been coming to our apartments and saying 'We are sorry. Nothing will happen. We love you,'" Farah said. "That is what the USA is about. It's not about divisions."

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Churches that help settle the Somalis also were discussed as possible targets, the federal complaint says. Steve Ensz, pastor of Garden Valley Church, said Monday that won't stop his church from collecting a wide range of items for distribution to immigrants setting up households in Garden City.

"We will keep helping them, even more so," Ensz told USA TODAY. "This is a tense time in our community, but we want to move forward with building friendships and being the neighbors God has called on us to be."

Authorities said the suspects, charged with conspiring to use an implement of mass destruction, were part of an anti-Muslim, anti-immigration group called the Crusaders. The group planned to circle the complex with truck bombs and ignite them with a cellphone, authorities said. About 120 Somalis live in the complex.

John Birky is a local physician involved in an effort to teach English to immigrants. He said language and cultural barriers can be daunting, but that news of the plot seems to have inspired more residents to knock down those barriers.

"There is still a level to which the Somali community has not integrated," he said. "But this (plot) was a shock to everyone. We are already seeing more people asking how they can help, asking what they can do to support the refugee community."

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Many of the Somalis are employed at local meatpacking plants. Ensz says the work is demanding but the pay and benefits fair, a strong lure for immigrants fleeing extremist violence and strife in their homeland.

"We are a very receptive community," Ensz said. "It's friendly, it's welcoming."

Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall, in announcing the arrests Friday, said the attack was imminent, adding that the investigation revealed a “hidden culture of hatred, violence.”

​The complex was targeted because of its population and because one of the apartments was being used as a mosque, the complaint alleges. Ann Burgess, who with her husband, Steven, owns the apartment complex, told USA TODAY she has been renting to Somali immigrants for more than a decade.

She said her tenants work hard, take good care of the property and are an important part of the community.

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"These people are fine, upstanding citizens," she said. "They are wonderful people and have become almost like family to us."

Authorities monitored the group for eight months through a paid informant until Allen's girlfriend called Liberal, Kan., police to report a domestic battery incident last week, Beall said. She led police to a stash of weapons, and police estimated they found “close to a metric ton of ammunition in Allen’s residence,” the complaint says.

If convicted, the defendants could be sentenced to life in federal prison.

Representatives of the Garden City Police Department, the Finney County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI met with residents of the complex Saturday to assure them they were safe. Garden City Police Chief Michael Utz, through a Somali translator, told the group that all the alleged conspirators were in custody.

“We ask you to continue to practice... your religious beliefs," Utz said. "You are safe, and we will continue to make every effort to make sure you are safe."

Farah said Muslims don't want people to blame the Muslim community for the behavior of Islamic extremists who commit violence.

"We aren't going to blame all white people because of these three men," she said.