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SAN FRANCISCO (KRON/CNN) — He was a former Marine turned Modesto tow truck driver, who according to loved ones, was just trying to get his life back together.
On Wednesday, the FBI arrested Everitt Aaron Jameson, of Modesto, who was allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired attack targeting a crowded Pier 39, according to FBI documents. The attack was supposed to happen on Christmas Day.
“I just couldn’t believe it, you know what I mean, that’s not him,” Jameson’s father Gordon said. “This is not the way he was raised, this is not you know what I mean, this is not him.”
Jameson’s family says he recently lost his kids.
They say that broke him.
“I mean he come to me and he was just.. you know what I mean, I was thinking oh he’s going to commit suicide because he lost his kids,” Gordon said.
His family says this was also the time Jameson shared his newfound religion, but according to them, he never said anything about radical jihadi beliefs.
“We just didn’t know it was that far. You know? It’s not – We never thought it to be a bad thing. Religion is religion,” Jameson’s aunt Sarah said.
Sarah says she can’t believe this happened.
“It’s like their talking about somebody else,” Sarah said. “I can’t explain it any other way it’s not my nephew that they’re talking about.”
Also on Friday, KRON4’s Ella Sogomonian met with the suspect’s grandfather.
Gordon Jameson Sr. told KRON4 his grandson converted to Islam, but he had no reason to believe he would do anything violent.
After converting, his grandfather says they told Everitt that it’s “all on him.”
When asked if he thought his grandson would carry out an attack, he said no and that he knows Everitt to be all talk.
He shared that Everitt was frustrated after he was discharged from the Marine Corps, that he is allergic to bees, and suffered a severe attack that may have contributed to him having to leave the force.
But that wasn’t clear.
In court on Friday, Jameson said he was innocent.
The company he worked for, Anderson Towing, had no comment.
Watch the above and below videos to hear the family’s reaction.
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