RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina woman has been charged with participating in a conspiracy to attack members of a Texas synagogue designed to “kill as many Jews as possible by driving through a congregation,” according to court documents.
Angelina Han Hicks, 18, of Lexington, was being held Thursday in the Davidson County jail under a $10 million bond, jail records show.
Hicks was arrested Wednesday and formally charged with conspiring with two “male subjects” to commit murder and assault at Congregation Beth Israel in Houston on April 21, 2028, according to warrants laying out two felony counts against her.
The male subjects were identified on Hicks’ warrants only by their first names, listing their last names as “unknown.” Alan Martin, the county’s senior assistant district attorney, said on Thursday he doesn’t know whether the male subjects are in custody.
While the warrants point to a potential attack two years from now, Martin said in an interview that early Tuesday there had been “some concern that there could be an imminent event” targeting the Houston synagogue.
Explaining why Hicks’ detention was necessary, District Court Judge Carlton Terry wrote Wednesday that the two other suspects had not been arrested and that the alleged “conspiracy is to kill as many Jews as possible by driving through a congregation at a synagogue.”
“Allowing a co-conspirator a chance to communicate with either of those individuals or those who could relay a message puts lives at risk,” Terry added.
A potential motive for the planned violence wasn’t immediately disclosed in North Carolina court documents. And, Martin said, “At this point, I have no idea” why Congregation Beth Israel — over 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from Lexington — would have been targeted. The investigation is continuing.
Attempts to speak by phone with Hicks’ court-appointed attorney were unsuccessful early Thursday. The lawyer, Chad Freeman, told the Houston Chronicle that the case was in its early stages and Hicks’ youth could be a factor in her defense.
“I anticipate getting numerous experts involved in the case to look at both investigatory and possible forensic matters,” Freeman told the newspaper. Her next scheduled hearing is May 13.
Congregational Beth Israel is the oldest Jewish house of worship in Texas, founded in the 1850s. It also operates a school going up to fifth grade.
The potential threats communicated to congregation leadership by Houston police prompted Beth Israel to close on Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston wrote in a social media post.
“The safety and security of the Houston Jewish community is of utmost importance to all of us,” the federation wrote.
Lexington is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) west of Raleigh.
The FBI said Ayman Ghazali sought to inflict as much damage as he could on Jewish people when he drove his pickup truck last month into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Ghazali, 41, was armed when the truck smashed through doors and into the hallway of an early childhood education area, striking a security guard. He then exchanged gunfire with another guard before fatally shooting himself. No one else among the 150 children and staff was injured.
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Associated Press writer Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan, contributed to this report.