McKinney says he thought his Friday afternoon visit might end with his death. Wearing a blue “Say No Hate to Hate,” T-shirt over his muscular frame and a long white beard that made him look like a buffed Santa Claus, McKinney told his story in a blunt, no-frills manner that underscored his 25 years in the military. McKinney recently spoke to CNN via video about his unlikely conversion. He was on a scouting mission to pick a location to hide his bomb and to gather intelligence that would validate his assumption that Islam was a murderous ideology. He was going to plant a bomb at the mosque in hopes of killing or wounding hundreds of Muslims. Unable to contain his anger, he went to the Islamic center that day in 2009 on what he saw as his final mission. His fury deepened when he returned home to Muncie to see how Muslims had settled into what he called his city, and even sent their children to sit next to his daughter at her elementary school. He was a former US Marine who had developed a hatred toward Islam during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. His name was Richard “Mac” McKinney, and he was there not to worship but to destroy. As an outsider with a USMC tattoo on his right forearm and a skull tattoo on his left hand, he stood out. It was Friday at Muncie Islamic Center in Muncie, Indiana, and the mosque was filling with people who had come for afternoon prayers. He was a big guy with broad shoulders, marching toward their mosque with his head down and his face flushed red from what looked like anger.
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