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FBI: Teacher who attacked MPs was suicidal

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — A Kuwaiti-born math teacher wielding butcher knives and vodka bottles he intended to ignite as explosives was trying to commit suicide, not an act of terrorism, when he attacked military policemen at Homestead Air Reserve Base, FBI officials said.

Tahmeed Ahmad had been added to a federal terrorist watch list, but officials concluded he was not a credible threat, said Lt. Col. Tom Davis, a base spokesman.

Ahmad drove to the base’s west entrance Sunday night, got out of his car and then charged the officers, according to an FBI criminal complaint. One police officer fired at Ahmad but missed. The officers were not injured and Ahmad was subdued.

“The fellow was being very hostile toward the guard,” Davis said.

The FBI has charged Ahmad, 22, with assaulting a U.S. government employee.

Ahmad’s mother said the first-year teacher at Miami Central High School is mentally ill and had recently been in a mental institution, where officials reported he tried killing himself.

“I don’t know why he was depressed and why he was so sad,” said his mother, Gulnaz Ahmad, of East Flushing, N.Y. “He needs help.”

Ahmad, a naturalized U.S. citizen, graduated in June from City College of New York’s honors program in math, his mother said.

The base will conduct an internal review into the shooting, Davis said.

“We take security very seriously at the base, but this was quite an unusual event. Our security forces are well trained and responded appropriately,” Davis said.