New York radio host Todd Pettengill is pointing to the alleged revenge killing of a 19-year-old man from Livingston, New Jersey, as evidence that “domestic terrorism is already here.” Further, he argues, the “act of jihad” is not getting nearly enough media coverage.
On his radio show this week, Pettengill called for increased focus on the murder of Brendan Tevlin, who was gunned down in June. About a month later, police arrested and charged 29-year-old Ali Muhammad Brown in connection to the murder -- and he later reportedly confessed that he killed Tevlin as retribution for U.S. military actions in the Middle East.
Ali Muhammad Brown pleads not guilty in the murder of Brendan Tevlin at the Essex County Court House in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. Brown is one of three suspects charged in the death of Brendan Tevlin on the night of June 25. Tevlin was a student at the University of Richmond. Brown was wanted by police in Seattle in the shooting deaths of two young men. He faces aggravated murder charges there and could face the death penalty if convicted. (AP Photo/The Star-Ledger, Frances Micklow, Pool)
The suspect also reportedly confessed to committing three other murders in Seattle, NJ.com reports, citing court documents. The victims were identified as Ahmed Said, Dwone Anderson-Young and Leyroy Henderson. Police said Henderson’s killing likely involved a robbery or drugs.
He could face the death penalty if convicted on the murder charges.
But statements reportedly made by Brown to investigators have some, like Pettengill, claiming that the murders are actually acts of domestic terrorism.
"All these lives are taken every single day by America, by this government. So a life for a life," Brown, reportedly a devout Muslim, told investigators after he was arrested. He also reportedly called Tevlin's murder a "just kill."
The Seattle Times also reports that Brown classified the murders as "justified kills of adult males, and not women, children or elderly people and that they were part of a 'vengeance' mission," according to court documents.
“It was in fact an act of jihad, perpetrated by a fellow American who sympathized more with those who want to annihilate us than with his own country and its people,” Pettengill said Wednesday on his radio show.
Brendan Tevlin (Twitter)
However, police said Tevlin’s murder started as a robbery. All four of Brown’s alleged victims were shot in secluded areas late at night.
More from the New York Daily News:
Officers said Brown fired 10 shots into Tevlin's Jeep Liberty when it was stopped at intersection early in the morning in West Orange, N.J. Then he got into the 19-year-old's car and drove it to a nearby apartment complex to abandon it
Two co-defendants, Eric Williams and Jeremy Villagran, fled the scene of the shooting before Brown took off in the Jeep, police said.
The radio host blasted the national media for not covering the story and informing the American people about the domestic terrorism threat facing the United States.
“If there was ever a reason to riot in the streets in the name of humanity it would for this case. But has that happened? No. And I’m not suggesting that it should,” Pettengill said.
“The bottom line is this, domestic terrorism is already here, and we need to talk about it,” he added.
Listen to his radio segment here via WPLJ:
(H/T: NJ.com)
