Four pro-Palestinian activists from the group known as the Turtle Island Liberation Front who were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of planning a terror attack in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve intended to target two companies described as “logistics firms,” and hoped that detonating the explosive devices precisely at midnight would prevent many people from hearing the blasts because of fireworks set off by revelers at that hour. The details emerged from new information disclosed over the past day.
According to the reports, the four also had a detailed plan that would have included a subsequent attack on officers from ICE, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that enforces laws against illegal immigration.
The FBI, it should be recalled, announced two days ago that it arrested four suspects over the weekend from an extremist pro-Palestinian group who planned to plant explosive devices at five sites in the Los Angeles area. The intended targets were two American companies whose names were not disclosed. The devices were supposed to detonate at midnight between December 31, 2025, and January 1, 2026, but the alleged co-conspirators were arrested after they were identified preparing to conduct a test of assembling and activating the explosives in California’s Mojave Desert.
The four detainees are Audrey Ilene Carroll, 30, Dante Garfield, 24, Zachary Aaron Page, 32, and Tina Lai, 21. According to the FBI, they identified themselves as members of a particularly radical branch of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, or TILF, a far-left organization that espouses pro-Palestinian positions, an anti-government ideology and actions against law enforcement authorities. “Turtle Island” is a term used by some descendants of Indigenous peoples in North America, as well as by activists advocating for Indigenous rights, to refer to the continent.
According to the group’s Instagram page, its main headquarters is based in Los Angeles, and its goal is to liberate “Turtle Island” — meaning North America — from what it describes as the “illegal American empire.” The page states, among other things: “Free Palestine. Free Hawaii. Free Puerto Rico. Liberating the world from American imperialism is the only path to a future of peace and security.”
According to reports over the past day, the four suspects who planned the attack were members of a chat group on the Signal messaging app that they called the “Black Lotus Order,” the name of an organization that emerged from the Turtle Island Liberation Front. Using the app, they coordinated their plan, which included planting backpacks filled with explosive devices at facilities belonging to the two unnamed companies in Los Angeles.
The plot was led by Carroll, who drafted an eight-page document laying out the plan, which was given the code name “Midnight Sun.” The booklet included step-by-step instructions for preparing explosive devices, listed various targets for attacks, and stated that “what we are doing will be considered an act of terrorism.” She and Page recruited the two other members of the group, and they agreed to travel to California’s Mojave Desert on December 12 to test the devices in a remote area.
In the desert, the group began unloading the materials they had gathered — including PVC pipes, potassium nitrate, charcoal, sulfur powder and detonators — and assembling them on a table. she also set up a tent to shield the materials from the sun.
According to the document drafted by Carroll, as part of Operation “Midnight Sun,” members of the “Order” were supposed to spray graffiti on the targeted facilities, including red triangles. The red triangle, it should be noted, has been adopted since October 7 by extremist supporters of the Palestinians around the world. This followed Hamas’ use of downward-pointing red triangles in its videos, marking Israeli soldiers or civilians seen through the terror group’s cameras before documenting attacks on them. It is unclear whether members of the group drew their inspiration for the planned symbol from that source.
According to the FBI, federal agents found posters at Carroll’s home bearing slogans including “Death to America,” “Death to ICE” — the agency that enforces laws against illegal immigration — and “Long live Turtle Island, long live Palestine,” as well as a copy of the detailed terror plan. Under the plan, the four also intended to later target ICE agents and vehicles using pipe bombs.
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From the Instagram page of the extremist group. 'How Turtle Island is connected to Palestine'
In addition to the four suspects arrested in California, FBI agents in Louisiana arrested Micah James Legnon, a 29-year-old transgender former U.S. Marine. Legnon was detained after investigators discovered that he was also a member of the “Black Lotus Order” chat group and had planned a separate attack that was to be carried out simultaneously with the Los Angeles operation. In the chats, he referred to himself as “Cattery the Witch” and shared images of assault rifles and body armor.
During a raid on Legnon’s home, after he had previously posted numerous messages on social media calling for the deaths of “fascists”, federal agents found assault-style rifles, large quantities of ammunition and sniper manuals.