Neighbors of alleged want-to-be Islamic State terrorist shocked by arrest

Neighbors and colleagues of the Stock Island young man accused of allying himself with Islamic State and striving to cause mass casualties in the Keys said the alleged terrorist detailed in court documents is not the same man they knew.

Federal agents arrested Harlem Suarez, 23, this week on a charge of knowingly attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He faces a life prison sentence.

The FBI picked up Suarez, also known as Almlak Benitez, after undercover informants sold him a fake backpack bomb. According to court documents, Suarez thought the bomb was real, and he intended to use it to kill scores of police and civilians.

Easter-themed decorations lingered on the window of apartment 109, where Suarez lived, in the Meridian West complex on Shrimp Road on Stock Island.

But, the feeling of shock may last longer than the window dressing for neighbors.

"He was just a normal kid, he had a motorcycle," a neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. "Being a bad person, nobody knows him like that."

Mario Garcia lives several apartments away from the Suarez residence. He said Harlem lived with his parents, who have been in the complex for 11 years.

"We're really surprised, we really are," Garcia said.

According to Garcia, "all kinds" of federal agents were at the apartment Sunday.

Another neighbor, who identified herself as Odalis, is friends with Suarez's mother. She said they are a "good family."

"The boy is quiet," she said. "I don't know why."

A female co-worker who worked with Suarez when he was part of the cleaning staff at the Southernmost on the Beach Hotel on South Street between 2011 and 2012 said he was cool with her all the time.

However, according to the co-worker, Suarez's other co-workers bullied him, mentioning that he was a "little slow."

"He was on the defensive mode most of the time," she said.

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 8:09 AM with the headline "Neighbors of alleged want-to-be Islamic State terrorist shocked by arrest."