A Ku Klux Klan member from near Albany, New York, was arrested on Tuesday after
he allegedly designed a “death ray” that is meant to kill Muslims and other
“enemies of Israel,” the Times Union, a New York State paper, reported on
Wednesday.
General Electric employee Glenn Crawford, 49, designed and
partially built a “radiation emitting device that could be placed in the back of
a van to covertly emit ionizing radiation strong enough to bring about radiation
sickness or death,” according to an FBI complaint.
The device could be
remotely controlled and capable of silently aiming a lethal beam of
radioactivity at targets, causing the victims to eventually die of radiation
sickness, the Times Union reported.
According to the FBI, “Crawford
described the device’s capabilities as ‘Hiroshima on a light switch’ and that
‘everything with respiration would be dead by the morning.’”
Crawford allegedly
offered the “death ray” to synagogues and local Jewish groups as a weapon to use
against “enemies of Israel.” He sought help with “a type of technology that
could be used by Israel to defeat its enemies, specifically, by killing Israel’s
enemies while they slept,” according to the FBI complaint.
54-year-old
Eric Feight, an acquaintance of Crawford’s, is accused of agreeing to help
Crawford construct the electronic controls for the device.
As many as six
other unidentified people are suspected of assisting him.
Crawford
identified himself as “a member of the Ku Klux Klan, specifically, the United
Northern & Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,” in a phone call recorded
by the FBI. He is also a member of Tea Party group Americans Demanding Liberty
and Freedom.
Crawford referred to Muslims as “medical waste” and accused
US President Barack Obama of “bringing the ‘muzzies’ here without background
checks” in a text message monitored by the FBI.
Crawford and Feight are
facing up to 15 years in prison and are charged with a conspiracy to provide
material support to terrorists, including use of a weapon of mass destruction,
the
Times Union reported.