Score One For Keifer Sutherland's PSA: The "Jersey Jihad" Killings That Weren't

I can't say it's wrong to suspect jihadist terrorists when a terroristic-seeming outrage occurs, but it's important to point out when those suspicions turn out to have been baseless.

An upstair neighbor of the butchered family -- named MacDonald -- and an accused accomplice -- named Sanchez -- have been arrested for the murders and are being held on $10 million bail.

The motive was robbery, not religious or political fanaticism.

Or Maybe It's Not So Cut-and-Dried After All Update: Teri tips to this post at Jihadwatch.org, noting:

While incarcerated in the federal system, he reportedly associated with a group of inmates who were actively involved in Islamic counseling - receiving radical fundamentalist Islamic literature during his incarceration. The prison source told Northeast Intelligence Network director Douglas Hagmann that there is indeed a religious component to the murders, although McDonald is not alone. Investigators from this agency are continuing the investigation to determine the veracity of those claims.

I'm troubled by the very sketchy sourcing here-- "reportedly"? Reported by whom? A "prison source"?

Still, many readers seem unconvinced, so I thought I would post this.

I tend to think the cops usually get these things right. And I don't believe that a detective would roll over to hide the true motive (or, worse yet, the actual culprits).

Even if there were some political pressure to have this "go away quietly," I think most detectives would want to actually solve the crime. And I think any detective would also know that this is a career-making sort of case, were there a terrorist connection.

We're talking book deal. National publicity tour. Money, and real money, not the phatasmal blog-money sort. The possibility of a later run for elective office.

Look at what Vincent Bulgosi got out of the Manson case.

I accept that there is some possibility that there is more going on here than a simple theft of an ATM card. But, until I see some stronger evidence of that, I'm going to assume, provisionally, that the cops are right and that this is a robbery/murder.

posted by Ace at 06:46 PM

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