Virginia educator accused of plotting ICE attacks with explosive rounds

FIRST ON FOX: Upper brass on the Ministry of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital that the agency’s investigative division is currently looking into the case of a Virginia educator and his brother who are accused of plotting an attack on ICE, possibly with explosive bullets.

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday that Kempsville High School Deputy Headmaster John Wilson Bennett and his older brother Mark Booth Bennett were overheard at a Vietnamese restaurant in Virginia Beach allegedly conspiring to go to Nevada and plan attacks on ICE agents in retaliation for what they described as a “kidnapping.”[s]“ by civilians during recent immigration control operations.

“It is appalling that any human being, let alone a child educator, would plan to ambush and kill ICE law enforcement officers – with specific details such as obtaining a high-caliber rifle that would penetrate law enforcement’s bulletproof vests,” McLaughlin said after Fox News Digital originally reported the adult brothers’ arrest days ago.

“Thanks to Homeland Security Investigations and our partners, these men are behind bars.”

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John Bennett was a lecturer at the inland school Virginia Beachsince 2009. The school told the local press that he is currently on leave.

McLaughlin said DHS worked with law enforcement at all levels after an off-duty Norfolk police officer overheard the men discussing plans to “kill police officers and ICE agents” at a Vietnamese restaurant in Virginia Beach on Nov. 17, with Mark Bennett allegedly saying he wanted to meet with like-minded people Vegaswhere he also bought firearms with explosive cartridges.

Two days later, Mark Bennett was arrested at Norfolk International Airport en route to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport for a connecting flight to Las Vegas. John Bennett was also arrested that day.

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McLaughlin said the case was indicative of the more than 1,150% increase Attacks on ICE agents and an 8,000-fold increase in death threats as they go about their daily work defending the homeland.

“They risk their lives every day to eliminate the worst of the worst, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists and gang members. From bounties on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking and doxxing on the internet.”, Our officers are experiencing one unprecedented levels of violence and threats against them and their families,” McLaughlin said.

Happy O’Brien, Mark Bennett’s lawyer, disputed the account of events and reportedly said his client had instead flown with his child to an F1 (Formula One) motorsports event in Nevada Norfolk Virginian Pilot.

O’Brien reportedly compared the conversation in the restaurant to something out of the ordinary NBC sitcom “Seinfeld” – with Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander’s characters often having varying degrees of existential conversations while drinking coffee at Monk’s.

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Both Bennetts were charged with conspiracy to commit bodily harm.

Adam Sabes of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.