An attorney for Siraj Wahhaj said he has seen no evidence to support the allegation that his client’s children were being trained on a New Mexico compound to carry out school shootings.
Wahhaj was one of five adults arrested on August 3 on the compound outside of Taos following the discovery of 11 malnourished children — nine of whom were Wahhaj’s.
In court documents, New Mexico prosecutors said the adults were training the children to commit school shootings. But Wahhaj’s lawyer, Thomas Clark, said that he has seen nothing in evidence so far to support the accusation.
If anything, the children were trained to protect the compound, Clark said.
Also arrested in the raid were Wahhaj’s sisters, Hujrah Wahhaj and Subhannah Wahhaj, his wife Jany Leveille and co-defendant Lucas Morten. The five each face 11 counts of child abuse. They have pleaded not guilty.
Wahhaj and his four co-defendants are scheduled to appear in a Taos courtroom Monday afternoon for a preliminary hearing.
The search for Wahhaj’s missing son, Abdul-Ghani, led authorities to the compound. The remains of a young boy were found on the compound on August 6, the same day Abdul-Ghani would have turned four. It’s still not clear if the remains belong to the missing boy.
