Plans to “carry out an attack” in New Orleans were thwarted after an ex-US marine was arrested while on the way to the Louisiana city with guns and body armor in the car, according to court documents obtained Tuesday by the Associated Press.
Micah James Legnon, 28, was charged with threats in interstate commerce. Federal authorities said they had been surveilling Legnon due to ties to an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group. Four members of the group were arrested Friday in the Mojave desert, east of Los Angeles, as they were rehearsing a foiled plot to set off bombs in southern California on New Year’s Eve, authorities said.
Plans of an attack in New Orleans began to intensify after several hundred immigration agents were deployed to south-east Louisiana, authorities said. The enforcement operation, dubbed “Catahoula Crunch”, has a goal of 5,000 arrests. The crackdown is the latest in a series of enforcement operations that have also unfolded in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Legnon believed it was time to “recreate” Waco with an attack in New Orleans, authorities said in court documents. They pointed to a 4 December chat message by Legnon written under the alias “Kateri The Witch” the day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived in New Orleans. Legnon’s alias had “she/her” written beside it, but jail records referred to Legnon as male.
Investigators believe Legnon’s chat message referred to the 1993 siege at a Waco, Texas, compound that ended after 51 days and the deaths of four federal agents, a religious leader and 76 of his followers.
Eight days after the post in the group chat, Legnon appeared to place a weapon into a car, an FBI agent surveilling Legnon said in the court document.
“On my way” to New Orleans, Legnon said in a group chat. Legnon then shared a video of a gun and bulletproof vest and wrote “just incase”.
After Legnon’s 12 December arrest, agents found an assault rifle, a pistol, a gas canister and body armor inside the car. Inside Legnon’s apartment in New Iberia, Louisiana (about 130 miles west of New Orleans), agents found sniper training manuals, Swat training manuals, assault rifles, and rounds of ammunition.
Court documents did not list an attorney who could speak on Legnon’s behalf. The office of the state public defender and the US attorney’s office for the western district of Louisiana did not immediately respond to requests for information on Legnon’s attorney, and jail officials said they did not know who might be representing Legnon.
Officials say Legnon “is suspected to be associated with” the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The group calls for “liberation through decolonization tribal sovereignty”, based on court documents. Federal authorities described the group as “a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government and anti-capitalist group”.
In the California case, a member of the group created a detailed plan to bomb five or more businesses across southern California on New Year’s Eve. The plot included planting backpacks filled with complex pipe bombs that were set to be detonated simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Two of the group’s members also had discussed plans to attack ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in 2026, according to the criminal complaint.
Some details of the foiled plot in California are eerily similar to the deadly attack in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter on New Year’s Day 2025.
In the early hours of 1 January, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove his truck down Bourbon Street, plowing into New Year’s revelers – killing 14 people and injuring dozens more.
Prior to the attack, Jabbar, who was later fatally shot by police, had placed multiple bombs in coolers around the French Quarter. None of the explosive devices detonated. Jabbar was inspired by the Islamic State group, authorities said.
What is that even supposed to mean? Waco was when the federal government raided a private compound and murdered a bunch of innocent civilians (including children) in the process of taking down a cult leader. The cult leader was a scum bag, but just because he was in the wrong, definitely doesn't make the government in the right for killing a bunch of children.
So by recreating a Waco, I would assume that means creating something like a compound that you plan the feds will raid??? Weird, but again, I'm just so confused. Particularly confused about how that is evidence of a threat against the government? Instead of implying they feel threatened by the government.
Also, you're allowed to carry a fire arm in Louisiana so how is doing so and wearing a vest a crime? If it's not a crime, why bother to mention it and present it as some kind of evidence of danger or threat?
Not saying I like the idea of everybody wearing bullet proof vests and carrying loaded guns everywhere, but if that's a crime half the state needs to be locked up.
It'd be more apt to say they wanted to recreate the OKC bombing which was mainly triggered by the siege at Waco and general government overreach. Whoever came up with that line likely doesn't understand their history. Maybe that's the suspect or maybe that's the FBI.
But why assume that?
For all we know this person literally just said something about being ready for another Waco and it was intentionally misconstrued to have an excuse to arrest them.