Two charged for 'racially motivated' plot to attack Baltimore power grid

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- A Maryland woman and Florida man face federal charges for a plot to destroy Baltimore's power grid to "lay" the city "to waste."

Erek Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland announced charges against Sarah Clendaniel of Cantonsville, Md., and Brandon Russell of Orlando, Fla., during a press briefing on Monday. Barron said the pair were arrested late last week for plotting and taking steps to shoot multiple substations to "completely destroy the whole city."

Barron said local, state and federal officials collaborated to stop the attack.

"This alleged planned attack threatened lives and would have left thousands of Marylanders in the cold and dark," Barron said in a press release from the Justice Department. "We are united and committed to using every legal means necessary to disrupt violence, including hate-fueled attacks."

Both suspects were arrested in their home states and are scheduled to make initial appearances in court on Monday.

Russell had been planning to attack critical infrastructure since at least last June, the department said. He posted maps of substations online and regularly discussed the damage that could be done if they were attacked.

Clendaniel identified five substations to attack in the Baltimore area and conspired to obtain a weapon to carry out the attack, the press release said. She said a coordinated attack against the substations on the same day "would completely destroy this whole city," and a "good four or five shots through the center of them -- should make that happen."

"It would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully," she continued.

Thomas Sobocinski, special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Baltimore, said Russell provided instructions and location information, and described an attack as "the greatest thing somebody can do." Clendaniel, meanwhile, was "in her own words -- determined to do this."

Sobocinski said there is no indication that this plot to attack substations is connected to similar attacks that have happened in recent months, or that it is a copycat incident. At a press conference, Sobocinski said the suspects had extremist views that were racially and ethnically motivated. He did not elaborate on the relationship between Clendaniel and Russell, but a report from The Washington Post describes Clendaniel as Russell's girlfriend.

According to The Washington Post, Russell is the founder of the new-Nazi group Atomwaffen. The group is accused of attempting to use attacks such as this to "spark a race war." Several members of the group have been accused of killing people.