A federal jury has found 45-year-old Zimnako Salah of Phoenix, Arizona, guilty on multiple counts after he targeted Christian churches across three states with hoax bomb threats, motivated purely by anti-Christian hatred.
Following an 11-day trial, the jury returned its verdict Thursday, concluding Salah planted a backpack at a Christian church in Roseville, California, in an attempt to simulate a bomb threat.
The device, strapped to a church toilet, was intended to terrorize innocent congregants and obstruct their right to worship.
The jury found that Salah specifically targeted the church because of the Christian faith of its members—legally designating this act as a hate crime.
From September to November 2023, Salah visited four churches across Arizona, California, and Colorado. At two of those houses of worship, he successfully planted suspicious backpacks that caused widespread panic among congregants.
At the other two locations, security thankfully intervened before he could finish his sinister plans.
More disturbingly, this wasn’t just a hoax — it was preparation for something far worse. According to testimony at trial, Salah was also assembling the real thing: a bomb capable of fitting inside one of those backpacks.
An FBI bomb technician seized components for an improvised explosive device (IED) in Salah’s rented storage unit. It wasn’t just intimidation — it was groundwork for domestic terrorism.
Adding to the alarming picture, Salah had consumed a steady diet of radical Islamist propaganda. His social media history included searches for “infidels dying” and videos depicting ISIS terrorists brutally murdering innocent people.
“This Department of Justice has no tolerance for anyone who targets religious Americans for their faith,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “The perpetrator of this abhorrent hate crime against Christians will face severe punishment.”
“Planting a hoax bomb at the Roseville church was not an isolated incident or a prank for this defendant,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith for the Eastern District of California.
“His actions were designed to threaten and intimidate the congregation because he disagreed with their religious beliefs. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of federal and local law enforcement and the attorneys from my office and our DOJ partners in Washington D.C., our communities are safer with yesterday’s verdict. People of all religions should be able to worship freely and exercise their First Amendment rights in this country without fear of violence,” Beckwith concluded.
“The Sacramento Division of the FBI is proud of our collaboration with local partners in bringing Mr. Salah to justice. His deliberate targeting of multiple places of worship and calculated efforts to spread panic were intended to terrorize people of faith and disrupt the peace of our communities,” said Special Agent in Charge Sid Patel of the FBI Sacramento Field Office.
“The FBI remains committed to protecting the American people and will continue to work within the confines of the law to hold individuals accountable for acts of terrorism whether those acts are true threats or intended as hoaxes.”
Salah now faces up to six years behind bars and a $250,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18 by U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins.
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