NYC Terror Suspect's Mom Apologizes

Son Jose Pimentel changed after conversion to Islam, she says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2011 5:03 AM CST
Mother of New York City Terror Suspect Jose Pimentel Apologizes to City
Jose Pimentel, 27, right, represented by attorney Joseph Zablocki, left, is arraigned at Manhattan criminal court, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, in New York.    (AP Photo/Jefferson Siegel, Pool)

The mother of a Manhattan suspect accused of plotting a bombing campaign wants the city to know that she's sorry. “I want to apologize to the city of New York," Carmen Sosa told reporters. “I love the city. I’ve been here since 1987 and I’m very disappointed with what my son was doing. I didn’t raise him that way. I feel very bad about the situation. I thank the police. They did what they’re supposed to do."

Sosa say her son, Jose Pimentel, 27, who was born in the Dominican Republic but raised in New York, began behaving differently after converting to Islam five years ago, the New York Daily News reports. She moved him to the city in 2010 after she "didn't like the way he was acting" in Schenectady, NY; he had been living upstate for about five years. "My son was a normal American guy. He did what young people do. Then he became a Muslim and he changed," she said, adding, "I'm Catholic. I believe in God. I don't support the Muslims." She says Pimentel, believed to be a "lone wolf" al-Qaeda sympathizer, has a 4-year-old son who lives with his ex-wife. (More Jose Pimentel stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X