Report: ISIS supporter scouted Oklahoma football stadium for possible terrorist attack

A man who pledged his allegiance to ISIS allegedly scouted Oklahoma’s football stadium for a possible terrorist attack, The Oklahoman’s Nolan Clay reported. He is awaiting sentencing.

Landon Kyle Swinford texted an undercover officer in September 2023 after attending an Oklahoma game at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium with his grandparents – a 50-20 win over Iowa State. He told the officer he “had looked at the barricades and security and thought the stadium could be a potential target for an attack,” according to The Oklahoman.

Swinford then scouted the stadium with the officer in October 2023. The officer was posing as an ISIS supporter and said earlier they met to see if Swinford was “for real,” a memo showed. Later that month, Swinford texted the officer saying he picked a target in New Orleans – a voodoo temple.

In 2024, Swinford confirmed to the FBI he scouted to the stadium. He also said he would have carried out an attack if he could financially do so, according to the memo.

Swinford is facing charges of child pornography and communicating a threat about bombing a synagogue, according to The Oklahoman. In July, a federal grand jury indicted Swinford, who is also known by three other names, and he pleaded guilty in November to the charges.

No sentencing date has been set, but the maximum prison sentence is 25 years. While he is not convicted of a federal crime, prosecutors argued the U.S. district judge could still consider his support of ISIS while determining his punishment.

In addition to an alleged plan at the stadium, Swinford also told the FBI he researched butane and propane-based explosions, as well as Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans and the voodoo temple, the memo said. The plan, which he said would have required between two and five more people, included pouring gasoline on the temple and setting off an explosion with butane tanks.