By Chuck Hustmyre

October 9, 2007

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DEARBORN, Mich. (Crime Library) — Strong evidence suggests that 26-year-old, third-year medical student Houssein Ali Zorkot knew exactly what he was doing on the night of Sept. 8 — three days before the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks — when he parked a late-model SUV at the edge of a crowded park and loaded his brand new AK-47 assault rifle.

Since Dearborn officials announced Zorkot's arrest last month, some have branded him a terrorist. Others have claimed he was just confused and perhaps mentally ill. Zorkot himself wrote, just hours before his arrest, that he was starting his own personal jihad, an Islamic holy war, against the United States.

Also in Hemlock Park that night were three men, Muslims just like Zorkot, who saw him walk out of a line of trees on the west side of the park carrying a rifle. Zorkot, wearing black clothes and with his face painted black, approached a 2007 Ford Explorer in the parking lot. He opened the SUV's tailgate and racked the rifle bolt back several times before chambering a 7.62mm cartridge into firing position.

One of the men called 911 for help. A recently released police report details what happened next.

Within minutes of receiving the 911 call, two Dearborn police officers arrived in the parking lot and spotted the Ford Explorer backed into a parking space. As the officers drove their cruisers toward the vehicle, Zorkot, who was behind the wheel, punched the gas and tried to get away. The officers boxed him in with their cars, then got out and rushed toward the driver's side of the Explorer.

Zorkot threw open the driver's door but stayed inside the truck. "Why are you stopping me," he said. "You guys are always harassing me."

One of the officers responded that they had received a complaint about a man carrying a rifle through the park. The man was reportedly wearing dark clothes and had dark paint covering his face.

"I don't believe you," Zorkot said as he sat in his truck wearing black clothes and black face paint.

Suddenly, Zorkot dropped his right hand toward the console. Officer Mark Farnham, fearing Zorkot might be reaching for a gun, grabbed the stocky, black-clad man's left arm and tried to pull him out of the truck.

At the same time, Officer Lindsey Cox spotted the wooden shoulder stock of a rifle in the back seat.

"Gun! Gun! Gun!" Lindsey shouted as she reached through the open driver's door and also grabbed hold of Zorkot.

The two cops managed to wrestle Zorkot out of the Explorer, but once he was outside, Zorkot, who trains in kickboxing and lifts weights, latched on to the door and wouldn't let go. Cox struck one of Zorkot's arms with her plastic flashlight to break his grip, but the blow had no effect on him.

Farnham pulled out a Taser and zapped Zorkot between the shoulder blades. The suspect hit the ground but continued to resist the officers' efforts to handcuff him. As he fought the officers, Zorkot repeatedly shouted, "Allahu Akbar."

(Note: In his report, Officer Farnham spelled the words that Zorkot shouted as "Ali Ackbed"; however, no translation of that spelling could be found. A similar and much more likely spelling of what Zorkot shouted is "Allahu Akbar," a very common Arabic Muslim phrase meaning "God is great," or "God is greater.")

As the fight continued, Farnham used his radio to call for help and then tasered the back of Zorkot's thigh. After Zorkot received the second shock, the two struggling officers managed to handcuff him. Following a search, the officers put Zorkot in the back of one of their patrol cars.

"You think this is over," Zorkot said. "This is not over. Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!"

Later, inside Zorkot's Ford Explorer investigators found his loaded AK-47 assault rifle, which he'd bought that very afternoon, a military combat belt with an attached canteen, two knives, a list of Detroit area shooting ranges, several photos of Zorkot posing in front of billboards containing pictures of people the police report described as "various Muslim extremists," a pair of binoculars, a five-color face paint kit, an empty box of 7.62mm rifle cartridges, a Lebanese flag, eight prepaid international telephone cards, a Compaq laptop computer, and a Muslim prayer book.

Police are not saying what was on Zorkot's laptop computer, but if the contents were anything like the postings on his Web site, Zorkot.org — a slobbering devotional to the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah — they likely had a lot to do with jihad and Islamic martyrdom.

In fact, on Sept. 8, the day he bought his AK-47, the close-quarter combat weapon of choice for Islamic terrorists the world over (Osama bin Laden is frequently seen in his "inspirational" video missives toting around his own personal AK-47) Zorkot telegraphed his intentions when he typed a message onto his Web site.

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Contact  Chuck Hustmyre at chuck3174@yahoo.com

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