MIAMI – About four months ago, a security guard picked up the phone and called several mosques in South Florida, including the Islamic Center of Greater Miami, according to federal prosecutors.
Gerald Sloane Wallace, 35, also sent threatening emails, according to the FBI. He said he wanted to tell as many Muslims as he could that he hated Islam. When no one answered the phone, he left a voicemail, according to the FBI.
"I'm gonna shoot all y'all," Wallace said in a Feb. 19 voicemail to members of the Islamic Center of Greater Miami, according to federal authorities.
Miami Gardens police officers arrested him shortly after the calls. During an interrogation, authorities said Wallace confessed to hating Muslims since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York City and said that he has thought about killing Muslims in the U.S.
Wallace also told authorities that he wants the U.S. government to force all Muslims to leave the U.S. The Department of Justice announced Thursday that he was facing additional charges.
Wallace faced a charge for the interstate transmission of a threatening communication for leaving the threatening voicemail. He was also charged with obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs for threatening to shoot members of the mosque.
If convicted of both counts, Wallace faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in federal prison.