[narrator] In New Hampshire...
[narrator] F.B.I. agents uncover a terror plot...
[narrator] ...aimed at the heart of justice.
There is no doubt in my mind, he is a significant threat,
and he’s gonna kill people.
[narrator] In Florida...
[narrator] ...a fleeing suspect turns amphibian...
[narrator] ...in a watery maze.
[officer] There are alligators
and water moccasin.
You never know what’s under there waiting for you.
[narrator] And in Arizona...
[narrator] ...a man lies unconscious...
[narrator] ...in a blazing wreck.
This vehicle could blow up.
Could be seconds.
[chatter on police radio]
[man] Come outside!
[narrator] In New Hampshire,
right on the border with Massachusetts,
is the town of Seabrook.
At a rest stop on I-95,
an undercover F.B.I. agent
poses as a gun dealer.
[whistling]
[Brian LeBlanc] In the fall of 2015,
I was assigned to the Boston Joint Terrorism Task Force.
And I got a phone call that said,
"There’s a cooperating witness in federal custody
down in Baltimore.
And he is making statements
that an individual called Edward McLarnon,
up here in Boston, had a plot
to kill high-ranking government officials."
So I fly down to Maryland,
and get this cooperating witness out of the jail,
and bring him over to the U.S. Secret Service office,
where I was able to interview him.
[narrator] The informant, using the name Ryan,
had asked Edward, or Zed McLarnon,
to help him with a court case.
So, they developed, first a working relationship
and then a friendship.
And the cooperating witness made these claims
that Edward McLarnon had a plot to kill
federal judge, Dennis Saylor,
the former Massachusetts Attorney General,
Martha Coakley,
as well as Lisa Monaco,
the Undersecretary for Homeland Security
in President Obama’s cabinet.
As I’m in Baltimore
I’m calling back to the Boston office,
telling them to get protective surveillance
on all of the potential victims,
as well as getting 24-hour surveillance set up
on Edward McLarnon as well.
Due to the nature of the threat
and the potential victims,
it was getting extremely high interest,
all the way up to the White House,
of, "Get this done immediately.
Vet this thing out.
Is Edward planning to kill these people?
Does he have a plot in place?
Does he have other people working with him?"
We need to know this very quickly.
[phone ringing]
So one of the things I wanted to do was
get Edward on the phone to the cooperating witness
so I could listen to the call as it occurred.
I got his cell phone, checked it out of his property at the jail.
Uh, so he was able to make that call
right from his phone to Edward McLarnon.
’Cause Edward didn’t know he was in jail.
I decided to have the cooperating witness
tell Edward that he had a friend,
an old army buddy, that could help him
in obtaining weapons.
Most people, if they’re venting,
and it’s hyperbole,
they’ll openly talk about it on the phone,
openly talk about it online.
But in this case, when Edward said he wanted to go secure,
and talk in a secure method,
that is definitely a red flag to me,
that this is an individual that has thought about this,
and is concerned about their plans being known
by law enforcement.
The easiest secure way to communicate
is the draft folder method.
And so I create a fictitious Gmail account.
The cooperating witness is in jail in Baltimore.
I’m gonna be behind the computer keyboard
controlling the communication now with Edward.
So the morning after, I logged into that account
and found that the, uh,
draft email was in the draft folder.
And when I opened that up,
I found that it contained Edward’s "wish list."
And so now I’m very concerned.
Because we know that this individual has this intent.
This individual is seeking weapons,
offensive weapons like hand grenades,
C-4 explosives, an AK-47,
a pistol with a silencer.
Weapons that could be used to murder or kill people.
So now I wanna have the cooperating witness
introduce an undercover
to potentially sell him these items,
um, as he’s requested,
and prevent him from
ultimately getting the weapons from somebody else.
[Mike Gibeley] I’ve been an F.B.I. certified undercover agent
for about 23 years or so.
I’ve done a host of undercover assignments
all over the world.
Um, I’ve worked in domestic terrorism cases,
drug cases, public corruption cases,
white-collar crime cases, murder for hire.
I’ve been a crime boss, I’ve been a gangster,
I’ve been a domestic terrorist.
I’ve been a white-collar criminal,
stolen property, I’ve sold grenades, bought grenades.
A large gamut of undercover assignments
in 20+ years.
The decision gets made that I’m gonna be
a black-market arms dealer
who had been a prior army friend of the informant.
And that proved to be problematic, a little bit.
Uh, ’cause I’d never been in the army.
But I was stuck with it and so we rolled with it.
[phone ringing]
[text message beeps]
[phone ringing]
He was fine on the phone.
Um, little guarded.
He certainly wasn’t gonna get into
a lot of specifics on the phone.
But I was essentially establishing
an initial rapport, and letting him know
that I was ready to do business with him
if he so desired.
[Mike] I provided him an address
in New Hampshire, a real weapons store,
which is owned by an individual
who had been helping the F.B.I.
I had worked undercover in that store numerous times.
He’s definitely guarded at first.
Which is not uncommon in undercover work.
Mr. McLarnon was a talker.
And in undercover work, if you get a talker,
um, you let ’em talk.
As the undercover meeting takes place,
I’m sitting in a car across the street,
and I can hear both Mike and Edward
through a live transmitter.
There’s also a S. W. A. T. team on standby if he needs help.
One of the key indicators we look for
is that somebody has a grievance.
And with Edward, he had a clear grievance.
My name is Zed McLarnon.
I’m a forensic investigator and an expert witness.
[Brian] I was able to conduct
a full background on Edward,
including his numerous YouTube videos that he’s posted.
[Edward] Massachusetts Attorney General,
Martha Coakley,
also worked with Massachusetts governor,
William Weld,
to help kidnap my son.
Edward McLarnon accused the government of corruption,
and the court system.
[Edward] Two days after I was dragged from my car,
beaten and hospitalized by two
off-duty state troopers,
with the threat that
if I ever go back to court,
I’ll never see my son again.
[Brian] That was his sole mission in life.
Fighting against the system that he hated so much.
[Edward] The evidence I presented
forced Attorney General Coakley
to admit in federal court
that Massachusetts judges and lawyers
operate courts as criminal enterprises.
He was fixated.
[Mike] It’s clear to me at this point
that Mr. McLarnon hates the government.
And there is no doubt in my mind
as I’m sitting there with him
that he is a significant threat
and he’s gonna kill people.
In any undercover case,
something’s gonna happen that you’re not expecting.
And he begins to tell me
that he wants to kill a social worker
who worked on his child custody case
in which he lost custody of his son,
and then who later married his ex-wife.
We had heard Lisa Monaco,
Judge Saylor and Martha Coakley.
We didn’t know anything about this social worker.
I show him fragmentary, military-grade grenades.
He makes it very clear that he’s not looking
to hurt anybody, he’s looking to kill people.
He also discusses a large number of courts as well
that he wants to conduct a terrorist attack against.
He’s looking at multiple guns, or weapons.
Looking at his body language, he’s much more relaxed.
It’s clear to me it’s go-time.
We’re gonna start talking business.
So, the number one priority coming out of that meeting
is the protection of the potential victims.
Not only did he identify the potential victims,
but he also identified
what he needed to conduct the attack,
and how he planned to conduct the attack.
But we also learned that Edward actually possessed
two firearms already.
[Mike] The concern is,
he’s just gonna go conduct a murder
with his own guns, and he doesn’t need me.
[Brian] So we came up with a plan
of him bringing those weapons,
and trading them in, uh, as collateral
towards the other items that he wanted.
So, using the draft folder method,
I communicated with Edward.
Gave him the location and the time,
for November 5th at the same location
at the gun store.
He was not to bring his guns into the store.
But he should bring those guns in the car,
as collateral, as well as cash,
to finalize the purchase of those items from Mike.
Our surveillance team actually saw him
go and look at his storage facility,
so I believed that story.
Five seconds or less into the meeting,
right away, a guy that hates the government,
does not follow instructions,
pulls a .38 out of his pocket
with his finger on the trigger.
[Mike] Points it at me
a foot-and-a-half away.
I’m nervous. There’s no doubt about it, I’m nervous.
And the first thing that’s going through
my mind at this point is,
25 S. W. A. T. operators are gonna come
crashing through every door and window,
and do their job.
Which is to protect me,
and whatever they gotta do to ensure my safety.
Because it’s not uncommon that audio fails.
And if the S. W. A. T. team didn’t hear me say I’m okay,
they’re gonna be here in 30 seconds.
I basically tell him, "Hey, let’s just make sure
the gun is safe, the owner doesn’t like
people having guns in here
that he doesn’t know are in here."
And I bring the gun right back to the table,
and I continue to further our negotiation.
I had photographed the hand grenades,
I had photographed the AK-47 and the ammunition,
as well as the silenced pistol.
And Mike was able to show those photographs to Edward.
We wanted to get the firearms that Edward already possessed away from him.
Mike was able to safely take
the pistol and limit that risk.
Long story short, he basically agrees,
he wants two firearms,
two grenades, a bunch of bullets,
some magazines, and he’s ready to rock and roll.
I’m gonna charge him 700 bucks and we’re ready to go.
He hands me the down payment,
I tell him that I’ll give him instructions on where to meet
to make the exchange later.
Mike gave Edward the opportunity to back out again.
Edward chose to continue to follow through
with the purchase.
So, after the second meeting,
we wanted to get this done very quickly.
We knew he intended to buy these items,
and he had plans in place to kill these individuals.
So, I had to quickly coordinate
with the S. W. A. T. team leader.
Had to coordinate with the surveillance teams
for the ground, as well as air assets.
We set it at a rest stop in Seabrook, New Hampshire.
And we had used that location
in previous, um, undercover operations
and takedowns, and we knew it was a safe location,
and it was an open location,
where the subject would feel comfortable.
I posted in the draft folder method, I said, "Coffee?"
And Edward replied back with,
"Yes, I’ll see you for coffee in the morning."
And it’s go-time.
[Mike] So, on the day of takedown, um,
ground surveillance is, um,
following Mr. McLarnon the entire day.
The plane is up,
ready to follow Mr. McLarnon from the air.
There are multiple SWAT teams staged and ready to go
to, A, make the arrest of Mr. McLarnon,
but also to extract me if this is gonna go bad.
[Agent Gibeley]
[McLarnon]
[Agent Gibeley]
[McLarnon]
[Agent Gibeley]
[McLarnon]
[Agent Gibeley]
[McLarnon]
-[Agent Gibeley] -No.
[Agent Gibeley]
The deal has been cut, money’s been exchanged.
He knows what he’s getting, I know what I’m selling him.
[Agent Gibeley]
I’m not gonna let him just take the bag and walk away though.
This is now my turn to talk.
[McLarnon]
[Agent Gibeley]
I go through each and every item in the bag.
I hold it up as best as I can, knowing that I’m wearing a hidden camera.
[Agent Gibeley]
[laughs]
[McLarnon]
It’s an opportunity to gather the most evidence that I can for presentation to a jury.
[McLarnon] Yeah, yeah.
[Agent Gibeley]
[McLarnon]
-[Agent Gibeley] -[Mr McLarnon] Yeah.
Because I know seconds later, 5,000lbs of FBI agents about to take this thing down.
[Agent Gibeley] This is now a final exchange of weapons,
and I know that I’m probably never gonna see him again after this.
But, honestly, at this point I had enough of him.
You know, he’s telling me over, and over, and over again about killing people.
I’m sick of listening to his story. I’ve just had enough of him.
I just want to get away from him.
-[McLarnon] -[Agent Gibeley]
[McLarnon]
-[Agent Gibeley] -[Mr McLarnon]
[Agent Gibeley]
As he’s heading towards his car,
I’m walking away.
I can see the SWAT team coming to execute their arrest.
[Agent Gibeley]
[Officer]
[Officer 2]
[Officer]
Well...
[Officer] And this what I’m saying.
[Officer]
[Officer] Yes.
[Officer] And it’s frustrating.
[Officer]
[Agent LeBlanc] Ultimately, Edward McLarnon was charged with
illegal possession of explosives
with intent to commit murder,
possession of illegal firearm for an automatic weapon,
being the AK-47.
As well as possession of a silence firearm with a .22 silence pistol.
He represented himself at trial, which lasted over six days,
and the jury found him guilty on all charges.
[Officer]
[Agent LeBlanc] The judge sentenced him to 25 years.
[Agent Gibeley] Mr McLarnon is more than just a person
who wants to commit a homicide.
This is about taking on the system, taking on the justice system.
His political ideology is what drives him to want to kill people.
This is a domestic terrorist.
[Officer]
I have no doubt that if he hadn’t found us he’d have found someone else,
and he’d have tried to kill these people and others.
[narrator] On the south west coast of Florida,
100 miles south of Tampa, is the city of Cape Coral.
I started my shift that morning about seven AM.
I think approximately 9:30, one of my partners, Officer Cragin,
had called me and said he attempted to stop a subject.
[Lemos] This individual, Christopher Pfister, is known to us.
He had a warrant for his arrest
from other incidents in the past.
I was coming down the street. I saw him running across the street.
He saw me, continued to keep running.
[Maduro] And then jumped into a canal to try and get away from me.
Generally, we don’t chase suspects into the water because of a safety factor.
You got to be a really good swimmer
to jump in a canal with all this stuff on, and be able to fight somebody,
and subdue them enough to get ’em back to the edge.
But there’s also alligators and water moccasin in the canal.
You never know what’s under there waiting for you.
[Maduro on radio]
[Lemos] We want to figure out
why this guy jumped into a canal.
Is he trying to hide drugs?
Is he trying to dispose of drugs in the canal?
Does he have a gun on him?
[officer on radio]
[Maduro on radio]
[officer on radio]
[narrator] Cape Coral has 400 miles of canals,
more than any other city on Earth.
[Lemos] So, when it comes to setting up a perimeter for a fleeing subject,
communication is paramount.
For him to jump into a canal and swim across to either side,
it could take a minute.
[camera beeps]
[Lemos] But to get to him, you now have to get back to your car,
and go down several streets to another major intersection
that will eventually allow you to get over to the other side of where that canal is.
-[man] -[Lemos]
[man]
[Lemos]
[man]
-[Lemos] -[man]
-[Lemos] -[man] Yeah.
[indistinct]
[Lemos] We see these wet footprints going into the parking lot.
We don’t know if he’s hiding behind a car,
waiting to jump out and confront us trying to apprehend him.
[Lemos] He’s trying to flee us,
but that doesn’t mean that at a moment’s notice he may decide,
"You know what? I’m gonna fight the cops today."
[clears throat]
I wasn’t too far. I was right down the road
so I responded to that area.
It almost felt like we were one step behind him each time.
[Oliver]
[Lemos]
[Officer]
[Lemos]
[Oliver] Well, I do know that he is from the area.
He has plenty of knowledge of the area, he lives in the area.
So he does have a good grasp on not only the streets but the canals.
[Officer]
[Oliver] There’s a lot of dead-end one way in, one way out neighborhoods,
and he’s using that to his advantage.
I took the approach of just getting back to the basics
and using my senses, almost, to try to find him.
[inaudible]
[woman]
[Oliver]
There’s a chance that, even though she hasn’t seen anything,
he could be right in her backyard.
-[Christopher] -[Oliver]
[Lemos] And at this point in the game,
with every canal he jumps there’s another officer getting closer and closer...
Eventually leading us to where he’s run out of a canal to jump in,
and now he’s got to run across several streets.
Officer Ledger with his motorcycle provides an advantage
because his ability to maneuver through streets, make quick turns,
and go back out streets, he can, you know,
get into tighter places with the motorcycle.
[Christopher exclaiming in pain]
[Lemos] I see him running across Coronado Parkway
and I take off running after him.
You know, you kind of get a tunnel vision.
You’re like, "Oh, there he is. I got to get to him.
And you just get this sudden burst of energy
just to just take off after him.
By the time I got within maybe ten feet of him,
I was able to use my taser on him to get him down to the ground.
As soon as the taser, you know, does its job
and is able to stop him in his tracks,
you know, you’re like, [sighs] "This is finally... we’re done chasing this guy."
[Christopher laughing maniacally]
He still was trying to fight until we got those cuffs on him.
[narrator] The suspect, Christopher Pfister Junior,
is charged with an outstanding warrant
and resisting law enforcement without violence.
He is sentenced to 45 days in jail.
It definitely doesn’t pay off to run from us.
You have the risk of the taser shots, extra charges.
You’re running into a gator or a shark in the canal, or getting hit by a vehicle.
Just accept that you have a warrant,
clear it up, go to jail, and get out.
[narrator] Phoenix, Arizona.
Officers Joel Kaminsky and Rudy Castillo are driving through the city
on their morning patrol.
I like to ride with Officer Castillo.
We have similar ideas of how we do our work.
We do get along good and that’s important.
It’s actually a really nice area to work in.
People wave at us. They like us.
It’s a little bit more relaxed.
[operator]
[woman]
[indistinct shouting]
[woman] But...
[operator]
-[woman] -[operator]
[woman] Yeah, we can’t...
[operator]
[woman]
-[operator] -[phone ringing]
[siren blaring]
[operator]
[indistinct]
It is extremely urgent. There’s a vehicle on fire
and there’s somebody inside that vehicle.
[siren wailing]
We were only about a half a mile away
when the call came out.
We hit that corner to that residence
and we were hit.
[Castillo]
The Phoenix fire department weren’t right then and there like we [chuckles] expected,
so it was us.
[Castillo] The urgency level was high.
There is a chance that this vehicle could blow up.
The doors were locked. The person did not respond.
There is this extreme sense of urgency.
We need to get into this vehicle
because of how intense the flames are getting.
[Kaminsky] I had a window punch tool
on the end of a pocket knife that I carry.
It was hitting the window, it was scratching the window.
It wasn’t breaking this window.
I noticed that there was, like, a little crack on the top of the window,
so I put my fingers in and I tried pulling on it.
That didn’t work.
These flames, this fire is working its way towards the cab of that vehicle.
The urgency level just skyrocketed at that point.
[groans]
We need to find something else to break that window.
[narrator] Other officers arrive on scene.
[Kaminsky]
[bleep]
[man]
[Castillo]
[bleep]
The sound of the glass shattering and falling down, it was a sense of relief.
[Castillo] He had his seatbelt on.
The smoke is pretty intense in there, so it was just by feel.
Felt the buckle, unsnapped it, grabbed him.
[Kaminsky]
That vehicle had the chance that it would explode
because of how intense these flames were getting.
[bleep]
[breathing heavily]
[bleep]
[Kaminsky] I thought he was bleeding,
and I did not realize for several seconds that it was not him.
It was my hand that was bleeding.
[bleep]
His eyes were glazed over. They were foggy.
There was no signs of life, there was no heartbeat,
and I knew I had to take immediate action
to bring life back to this man.
[Castillo]
[Kaminsky] Not knowing how long he had been in that vehicle
with the amount of smoke in there,
we needed to get some fresh air in his lungs.
[Castillo]
I see...
[Castillo] Keep going.
Signs of life were starting to come back into his body.
[Castillo]
Every now and then, his arm would move, fingers would move.
His eyes started to clear up. There were signs of progress.
[narrator] Three minutes into CPR,
fire department paramedics arrive.
[Kaminsky]
-[paramedic] -[Kaminsky]
[indistinct chatter]
When I handed him off to the fire department...
-[paramedic] -[Kaminsky]
[bleep]
I was fairly confident that he was gonna live and that he was gonna survive.
[narrator] The driver is taken to the hospital
where he regains consciousness.
Doctors determined that he crashed
as a result of a medical emergency.
Saving a life is very rewarding.
That’s something, as a police officer,
that you’re able to look back on
and feel a sense of accomplishment.
Life is precious,
and to be able to help somebody
and save their lives is just amazing.
[siren wailing]