Overview
- Federal authorities say they disrupted an alleged plan to use improvised explosive devices at multiple Los Angeles sites, arresting four suspects during a Mojave Desert rehearsal and bringing charges including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and providing material support to terrorists.
- Prosecutors identified the Los Angeles defendants as Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante Gaffield, and Tina Lai, and investigators have linked them to the Turtle Island Liberation Front.
- A separate arrest tied to the same group was reported in New Orleans, where officials say ex-Marine Micah James Legnon was detained with weapons and body armor, prompting calls for heightened security around New Year’s and Sugar Bowl events.
- Joint assessments by federal, state, and local agencies warn large gatherings such as Chicago’s Navy Pier fireworks are attractive targets, highlighting risks including vehicle ramming and drone misuse while noting no specific or credible threat to those events.
- Several cities have canceled or scaled back celebrations—Paris dropped its Champs-Élysées concert, Tokyo ended the Shibuya countdown, and Sydney scrapped Bondi Beach events—while New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles plan to proceed under intensified monitoring and policing.