Truck attack plot suspect diagnosed with delusional disorder

GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man charged with planning an Islamic State-inspired attack at a shopping and entertainment complex near Washington, D.C., was diagnosed with delusional disorder and refused to take psychotropic medication while in federal custody last year, a judge said in a court filing Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis agreed to extend Rondell Henry's court-ordered hospitalization by up to four months. The judge ruled in February 2020 that there was ample evidence Henry isn’t mentally competent to stand trial.

Thursday's filing reveals that a forensic psychologist employed by the federal Bureau of Prisons provided the court with a Nov. 20 report in which she expressed her opinion that Henry couldn't be tried while suffering from a delusional disorder. Previous court orders didn't specify the nature of Henry's mental illness or say he was refusing medication.

Neither prosecutors nor a defense attorney objected to extending Henry's hospitalization for psychiatric and psychological treatment designed to make him competent for trial. Xinis scheduled a May 5 call with the attorneys for an update on Henry's status.

Henry, 29, of Germantown, Maryland, is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State group.

Police arrested Henry in March 2019 after seeing him exit a stolen U-Haul van and jump over a security fence at the National Harbor, a popular waterfront destination just outside the nation’s capital. Henry told investigators he planned to carry out an attack like one in which a driver ran over and killed dozens of people in Nice, France, in 2016, authorities said.

A federal prosecutor has said Henry intended to kill as many “disbelievers” as possible.

Prosecutors have said...