00:00On the evening of March the 10th, 2026, Alan Zhang planted an improvised explosive device.
00:06Often we will hear it terminology in the IED.
00:09For those who have covered bombings in the Middle East will know by that terminology.
00:14He placed it outside the visitor center at the Air Force Base in Tampa.
00:19The device did not detonate, but minutes after the device was planted,
00:24a 911 call reported that a bomb had been placed on the base.
00:30When that phone call came in, no location for that bomb was in fact given in that 911 call.
00:39The McGill personnel searched the base and the entire base and did not find the device at that time.
00:47The next day, the individual who placed that bomb, Alan Zhang and his sister,
00:52made plans to flee to China.
00:55On March 11th, Zhang and his sister purchased tickets to China
00:58and sold the vehicle that was used by the defendant, Alan Zhang,
01:03to bring the improvised explosive device from his home to the visitor center at MacDill.
01:11That before the device was, the law enforcement was brought in to take the device on March the 12th of
01:212026,
01:22Alan Zhang and his sister and Mary Zhang fled to the People's Republic of China.
01:28So by the 12th, they were gone.
01:31On the 16th of March, Air Force Base Security found the device in question secluded.
01:38They immediately contacted law enforcement, and law enforcement, the gentlemen that you see,
01:43ladies and gentlemen that you see before you responded.
01:47The FBI safely removed the device and determined it was, in fact, an IED.
01:52Less than 24 hours later, the agents identified the IME number for the phone used in the 911 call.
01:59And those of you familiar with the IME number,
02:02it's an International Mobile Environment Identification Number.
02:06That's more than you want to know, but it is essentially a digital footprint for that phone number.
02:12When they did that, they identified that digital footprint as belonging to Zhang,
02:18and that Zhang had purchased that phone at Best Buy.
02:23These agents and law enforcement officers then got the film from Best Buy in the videotape.
02:28They identified Zhang purchasing that telephone at Best Buy and that he had driven the SUV in question to that
02:38location.
02:38On the 17th, Ann Zhang, the sister, came back to the United States.
02:45The defendant, Alan Zhang, has not returned.
02:48When March the 18th, less than two days after identifying Zhang,
02:53and the search warrant was obtained by the FBI to search Zhang's home,
02:57and they found IED components consistent with the bomb that had been placed at MacDill Air Force Base.
03:03The agent spoke with Zhang's mother as well as the defendant, Ann Zhang,
03:08and both of them conceded that they knew that Zhang had told them,
03:12Alan Zhang had told them that they planted the bomb at MacDill Air Force Base.
03:17The bomb is placed on the 10th.
03:19They left on the 12th.
03:20On the 11th, they attempted to destroy evidence by selling the automobile involved to CarMax.
03:33Of course, having been used to transport the IED, the law enforcement and the FBI were trying to determine if
03:40there was,
03:41in fact, additional evidence at CarMax to determine if that vehicle had been used
03:45or to corroborate what had been told to them by Ann Mary Zhang.
03:50And although the vehicle had been vacuumed and had been cleaned,
03:53there were traces of items that were residue for the IED,
03:58and it was consistent with the IED that was picked up.
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