CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A Clarksville man has been arrested following an investigation by the FBI into ISIS-connected terrorist threats they say he made against the Clarksville Police Department and the Fort Campbell PX Exchange.

Jason Solomon Stokes, 41, was arrested Aug. 20 and charged with sending threatening communications interstate, a federal crime, according to documents unsealed today and obtained by Clarksville Now.

Stokes never obtained weapons for such an attack, but documents indicate he coordinated over social media with operatives he believed to be ISIS members, trying to obtain weapons and planning an attack on CPD headquarters and the store at Fort Campbell.

Social media threats in 2018

The FBI first became involved with Stokes in March 2018, when they were tipped off that he had called himself an Islamic State warrior and said the United States was under the influence of Satan and the Ku Klux Klan, according to the FBI complaint.

“This the KKK country I’m with Allah warrior of Allah Islamic State brother,” was part of his statement.

Agents accompanied by mental health professionals met with Stokes, who was being treated medically for schizoaffective disorder, according to the complaint. He was living with his mother in Summit Heights. Stokes admitted to making the posts but denied being violent and denied owning any weapons.

About a year and a half later, on about Nov. 5, 2019, the FBI was tipped that Stokes had made more terrorism-supporting statements. They again interviewed him and advised him to stop posting messages on social media. The mental health professionals advised that Stokes was not in crisis or a danger to himself or others, the documents said.

Joining ISIS chat group

About five months later, on or about April 26, 2020, Stokes was added to a social media chat room supportive of ISIS. In that room, he said he wanted to make a video proclaiming his allegiance to ISIS, and that he wanted assistance planning an attack at a military shopping center, the complaint stated.

The FBI and a mental health worker interviewed Stokes’ mother and again interviewed Stokes, who said he had been off his medication.

But Stokes continued posting in the chat room. In June and July, he tried to get money from the group to buy an AK-47, and he was advised on the need for reconnaissance video for an attack on the Fort Campbell PX, the complaint stated.

He then shifted plans for an attack on CPD headquarters and made a video outside CPD in which he spoke of terrorist activity, the documents state.

Surveillance video showed Stokes walking around the building wearing a mask over his face and chin, holding up his cell phone as if taking video.

On the video, Stokes is heard addressing “the brothers of the Islamic State” and complaining about the city and the police.

But when the proposed timeline for the attack came closer, Stokes seemed to back out, saying he was worried about his elderly mother and leaving her alone. He was offered a date and time to acquire weapons and ammunition, but he backed out, saying he hoped to set another date in the near future, the complaint states.

The FBI determined that because the threats were made in communications across state lines, federal charges would be pursued.

Stokes is now in custody, and a detention hearing is set for Nov. 12.