Children found on Taos County compound were being trained to commit school shootings
The 11 children found on a makeshift compound north of Taos were being trained to commit school shootings, according to documents filed Wednesday.
According to the criminal complaint a foster parent of one of the 11 children told investigators that Siraj Ibn Wahhaj had trained the child in the use of an assault rifle "in preparation for future school shootings."
WHAT HAPPENED:
Over the weekend, police found 11 children on a makeshift compound north of Taos, near Amalia, New Mexico.
MISSING CHILD:
The compound was discovered while law enforcement was trying to find 4-year-old Abdul-ghani Wahhaj. The boy was reported missing out of Georgia by his mother in December of last year.
On Tuesday, the Taos County sheriff said remains of a child buried on the compound, but said he could not positively identify Abdul until an autopsy was complete. They would not say how long they believed those remains had been buried.
According to safe room interviews conducted between CYFD and the children found, at least two kids said Abdul was at the compound in poor health and died there.
Those kids went on to say, "Uncle Lucas," believed to be Lucas Morton, washed the child's dead body twice, then buried him in a tunnel on the compound.
THE COMPOUND:
On Friday, several members of Taos County Sheriff's Response Team and the State OSI executed the search warrant at the compound.
The boy's father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, and Morton were both located and taken into custody. They also found 11 children ranging in ages from 1 to 15 years old and three women believed to be the mothers of the children.
All of the children were taken into CYFD custody.
The compound consisted of one small trailer buried in the ground and covered by plastic with no water, plumbing or electricity.
"The only food we saw were a few potatoes and a box of rice in the filthy trailer," Hogrefe said.
He added that the adults and children all looked like "third world country refugees not only with no food or fresh water, but with no shoes, personal hygiene and basically dirty rags for clothing."
SUSPECTS:
Wahhaj is facing 11 counts of child abuse and one count of custodial interference.
Morton and the three adult women also found on the compound are all facing child abuse charges.
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