Somali community in Garden City reacts to sentencing in bomb plot
The plot of three men to bomb a mosque and apartment complex in Garden City left a significant impact on the group of Somali immigrants targeted in the crime.
More than two years after investigators foiled that plot, Curtis Allen, Patrick Stein and Gavin Wright received their sentences Friday.
Among the group targeted is Ifrah Farah. After Friday's sentences came down in federal court, she says she feels better as she recalls the day she learned about the bomb plot in Garden City.
"I didn't see the men, but I heard someone who texted me, "Are you safe?'' She was my friend, and I said, 'What do you mean, 'safe?'" Farah says.
She moved to Garden City four years ago and was at the apartment complex when she learned Allen, Wright and Stein planned to detonate vehicle bombs on the property.
Farah says the Somali community has learned to cope, thanks to the support they've received around Garden City.
With the sentencing behind them, Farah and the rest of the community hope for justice and want to remind everyone they have no intention to harm others.
"Please, we need peace and love," she says. "Because we came here for better lives. We are refugees. We live here. We are not bad people. We love everybody."