Florida man charged with leaving recorded threatening messages at US mosque


A man in Florida is facing federal charges for reportedly leaving recorded threatening messages at a mosque.

Court records released Wednesday show that 35-year-old Gerald Sloane Wallace was indicted by a Miami grand jury on a charge of making an interstate communication that threatened injury. State authorities had charged Wallace previously for the same actions.

The indictment says Wallace phoned the unidentified mosque in February and left a message using profanity against Islam, the prophet Muhammad and the Quran. He also allegedly threatened to "go down to your center."

"I'm gonna shoot all y'all."

The charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence. An arraignment and detention hearing are set for Friday.

Court records do not list an attorney for Wallace.The U.S. and Europe have witnessed a rise in Islamophobic threats and attacks, and a 2016 poll by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) revealed that 30 percent of Muslim respondents had experienced discrimination or profiling in the previous year.