An illegal alien, Saudi Arabian citizen may have been targeting the Women’s March in Indianapolis back in January. Whatever Ahmed Alaklouk was planning to do with his bump stock equipped rifle in a hotel room overlooking the route of the Women’s March was averted by watchful hotel security who alerted police.
NEWS: A Saui man already facing charges for a gun-related incident in January is now accused of having guns, including an AR-15 with a scope, with him at the downtown Hyatt during the Women's March. https://t.co/8Id0gk3mSA pic.twitter.com/JeesnhBC38
— 93 WIBC Indianapolis (@93wibc) March 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/sammyblueskyy/status/973199910140071936
Some are already using this as another reason to call for more gun control but Alaklouk was already breaking the law by possessing guns as well as by overstaying a terminated student visa. This is an immigration and national security issue not a gun control issue. Had existing laws been enforced properly, this guy wouldn’t be in the country let alone with a bunch of illegal guns.
A man in the country illegally has been charged with a federal crime after two gun scares, including one involving an AR-15-styled rifle equipped with a scope and bump stock outside a downtown Indianapolis hotel on the day of the Women’s March with thousands of attendees.
Ahmed Alaklouk, described in federal court documents as a Tunisian native and Saudi Arabian citizen, has been living in Indiana on a terminated student visa. Federal law prohibits someone in the country illegally from possessing guns or ammo, but court records say police found him with weapons on two occasions in January.
If anything, this incident should have people calling for strengthening our immigration enforcement.
Hotel security saw several firearms inside Alaklouk’s truck parked at the hotel: six handguns in the back seat, and a rifle in the front seat.
Security called Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers. As police investigated, Alaklouk approached and said the truck belonged to him. Police told him to secure his weapons in a hotel safe or out of sight in his vehicle because leaving them in the open could result in a break-in.
Alaklouk unlocked the truck and moved the rifle to the back seat, records say.
As Alaklouk moved the rifle, officers saw that the weapon — which had been modified to function and look like an AR-15 — also contained a scope, bipod and bump stock.
Alaklouk told police his rifle was “fully tricked out” and belonged to his father, according to court documents.
After being removed from the hotel, Alaklouk was placed under surveillance by police and another gun related incident took place at his place of business.
Detectives monitored Alaklouk from outside the business he owns, Medo Tire Shop, 3546 W. 16th Street. He did not leave that day, court records say.
But the suspicions at the hotel prompted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to begin investigating Alaklouk’s immigration status and whether he could possess guns.
Investigators found Alaklouk’s student visa had been terminated in September 2017, court records say.
About a week after being escorted from the hotel, on Jan. 27, Alaklouk’s second gun incident occurred at the tire shop.
In an interview with police, a woman said she bought a tire from Medo Tire but it did not hold air. She and her father went to the shop, where a disagreement about the tire led to an argument and, eventually, a fight.
Court records say Alaklouk grabbed the woman’s father by the neck and threw him to the ground. As he tried to get up, two of Alaklouk’s employees surrounded him.
Alaklouk and one employee then each pulled a handgun, records say.
The woman then pulled a handgun from inside her car and fired it into the air, police say.
Alaklouk then went into the tire shop and returned with his rifle, records say. And he told the woman and her father: “If you leave, I’ll f—— kill you.”
If convicted of all the state and federal charges against him, Alaklouk faces up to 26 years in prison.
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