Abdo is alleged to have planned the bombing because of his opposition as a Muslim to the U.S. War in Afghanistan. However, the US Attorney in the case, Robert Pitman, compared the plot to the 2012 mass murders by two other American men: the shootings at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, and at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee. He said that Abdo had planned to use violence "to advance [his] twisted agenda."