Man convicted in hate crimes targeting Christian churches, including one in Colorado
DENVER (KDVR) — A man who walked into a Denver area church with a backpack in 2023 was convicted for crimes targeting Christian churches, in which he would use a backpack with the intent to convey a hoax bomb threat.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that 45-year-old Zimnako Salah of Phoenix was found guilty by a federal jury after an 11-day trial.
According to a press release, Salah was convicted for strapping a backpack around a toilet in a Christian church in Roseville, California, 'with the intent to convey a hoax bomb threat and to obstruct the free exercise of religion of the congregants who worshipped there.'
A special finding in the verdict determined that Salah 'targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.'
Salah traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California and Colorado from September to November of 2023. At the churches, the DOJ said he wore black backpacks, which he used to make congregants fear that there was a bomb. He planted the bags inside two churches and was confronted by security before he planted them at two others.
In November 2023, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said Salah was seen wearing a black backpack and walking into a church near S. Dayton St. and E. Belleview Ave. on the morning of Nov. 19.
The sheriff's office said he was greeted by a uniformed deputy who was working off-duty and continued to walk toward the restrooms and left wearing the backpack shortly after.
The DOJ said that while he had been using the backpacks to make threats, he was building a bomb that could fit in a backpack. A Federal Bureau of Investigation Bomb Technician searched his storage unit and seized items that an FBI Bomb Expert testified were parts of an improvised explosive device.
Additionally, a search of his social media records found that he searched for extremist propaganda using terms like 'infidels dying' and watched videos depicting ISIS murders, the DOJ said.
Salah is set to be sentenced on July 18 and faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Multiple agencies assisted with the investigation, including the FBI, Roseville Police Department, San Diego Police Department, San Diego Harbor Police Department and the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.
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