GREECE, NY — Two men and a teen have been arrested in Greece, NY and charged in connection with planning an assault on Islamberg, which is located in Town of Hancock, almost 200 miles away from the suspects’ homes.

Brian Colaneri, 20, Vincent Vetromile, 19, and Andrew Crysel, 18, were arrested along with a 16-year-old whom police did not identify.

Greece police held a press conference on January 24, and said the four had been planning the attack for a month. The suspects created three improvised explosive devices packed with nails and other projectiles, and had access to 23 guns.

Islamburg is a religious community founded around 1980, largely by African Americans looking to leave the city. Neighbors and community leaders say the residents of Islamberg are good neighbors and an asset to the area. However, Islamberg has also been a target for racially charged attacks inspired hatred on social media.

In this case, Vetromile talked openly on social media about murdering Muslims and their children. “Kids have been shown to be terrorists too and have killed our people. The Koran tells them to kill us so they’re all GUILTY,” he wrote.

At a press conference, Greece Police Chief Pat Phelan said one of the sites used for planning the attack was a platform called Discord, which was also used to plan the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. That rally resulted in the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was a counter-protester. In this case, Phelan said if the four had been able to go forward with their plan, people would have died as a result.

Police launched the investigation that led to the arrests after an off-the-cuff remark by the 16-year-old at school came to the attention of police.

This is not the first time anti-Muslim forces have targeted the community of about 200.

“For the last three years, the right-wing ‘American Bikers United Against Jihad’ [have] regularly drive[n] up to taunt and harass the community. It’s hard to say if they hate the people of Islamberg more for being Muslim or for being black,” according  The Daily Beast.

In 2017, Tennessee resident Robert Doggart was convicted of attempting to recruit a group of like-minded fighters to attack the community. He was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison.