Pioneer Courthouse Square bomb plot

On Nov. 26, 2010, the FBI thwarted an attempted terrorist bombing in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square before the city's annual tree-lighting. A 19-year-old Somali-born American citizen, Mohamed Osman Mohamud, drove a van to the corner of the square at Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue and attempted to detonate it, the government alleges. However, the supposed explosive was a dummy that FBI operatives supplied to him. Mohamed has been indicted on charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.