Al-Qaida probe leads to Lynnwood soldier

A Lynnwood soldier on the eve of joining the war on terror in Iraq has been accused of being a spy for the terrorist network al-Qaida.

National Guard Spec. Ryan Gibson Anderson was taken into custody Thursday at Fort Lewis as he prepared to deploy with his unit to Iraq.

An Army spokesman said Anderson, who converted to Islam about five years ago, had been caught in a joint sting operation by the Army, the FBI and the Department of Justice.

The Army said Anderson was being held pending charges of "aiding the enemy by wrongfully attempting to communicate and give intelligence to the al-Qaida terrorist network."

"It’s shocking, but it’s not too shocking, knowing how Ryan is," said Nathan Knopp, a friend since they graduated from Everett’s Cascade High School in 1995.

"He was always a paramilitary type of guy, really into military weaponry," Knopp said. "Ryan’s kind of a weird type of guy who made up a lot of stories that seemed really far-fetched."

For most people who met him, Anderson, 26, was either a standout or a stranger. Many of his classmates at Cascade didn’t remember him. But for others, when he did leave an impression, it was big.

One such time was May 22, 1998, the day after Oregon teenager Kip Kinkle shocked the world by killing his parents and then continuing his murderous rampage by bringing a rifle to his high school and opening fire on classmates.

Anderson, then 20, was at his home in Everett on a break from college. He wanted to show a friend his newly acquired rifles, including one equipped with a 2-foot-long bayonet.

About 3 p.m. that day, Anderson slung his rifles over his shoulder and began walking through the Eastmont neighborhood where he grew up. His path took him past Jefferson Elementary School just before students were to be released for the day.

The report of a rifle-toting man in a school zone one day after the Oregon killings attracted Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies like a swarm of angry bees. Anderson was ordered to the ground at gunpoint and disarmed.

No charges were ever filed over the incident, because authorities said Anderson apparently broke no laws.

Nearly four years later, the FBI is interested in what happened that day, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said Thursday.

"I know that the FBI made some inquiries early this month," she said.

They also were looking for records that might be related to Anderson under the name of Amir Abdul-Rashid, Jorgensen said.

In the military, Anderson was an armor crewman in the National Guard. Soldiers with his job are trained at Fort Knox, Ky., and typically serve on the M1A1 Abrams, the Army’s main battle tank.

Along with thousands of other soldiers in the Washington National Guard’s 81st Armor Brigade, Anderson was preparing for a yearlong deployment to Iraq. He was taken into custody just days after a huge send-off ceremony held for the brigade in the Tacoma Dome. Soldiers from the brigade will start shipping out within weeks.

Anderson is now being held at the Fort Lewis Regional Corrections Facility, a holding place for prisoners from military commands throughout the country and the Pacific. He will remain there pending the filing of criminal charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Anderson’s wife, Erin, did not return phone messages left at the couple’s home. His family in Everett also was unavailable for comment. No one came to the door Thursday of the two-story home where Anderson’s father, Bruce, and his stepmother, Jaclyn, live.

A handful of residents in the quiet southeast Everett neighborhood said they didn’t know Ryan Anderson and had only seen him a couple of times.

Jack Roberts, who lives next door to Erin and Ryan Anderson at a large apartment complex in Lynnwood, said he was surprised Thursday when about 12 FBI agents came to their door.

When told that Anderson had been arrested for alleged spying, Roberts said: "I thought it would be for that. Why else would there be 12 FBI agents there?"

Roberts said he talked to Erin Anderson after the agents left.

"She was pretty damned shocked, as I was," Roberts said.

Roberts said he has lived at the Cambridge Square North apartments for about three years, and the Andersons moved in about six months ago with their two cats.

The Army did not give any details of the investigation, when it would be concluded or what would happen next.

Knopp, Anderson’s high school friend, has kept in touch with him since they graduated. He just got an e-mail from the soldier in which Anderson talked about his upcoming deployment to Iraq.

Knopp was in the Junior Statesmen of America club with Anderson at Cascade and said Anderson had talked about converting to the Muslim faith before graduation.

As group projects, the Junior Statesmen would develop bills that could theoretically be proposed to Congress, Knopp recalled. Anderson’s bill proposals invariably included references to gun control, "paramilitary-type stuff" and the U.S. marshals’ standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

For others, Anderson drifted through their lives without much notice.

Professors at Washington State University, where Anderson graduated with a history degree in 2002, struggled to match his face with his name on class lists.

Fritz Blackwell, an associate professor in the history department, didn’t recall his former student. "I came back and looked at his grade book, trying to place him. I still couldn’t."

Marina Tolmacheva said she had Anderson in two of her sophomore-level classes, one on Middle East history and another on Islamic civilization and culture.

Although his class attendance was good, Anderson didn’t stand out. "I don’t think he particularly spoke to me," she said.

Former classmates of Anderson — some who didn’t even know who he was — said they have been barraged by media calls ranging from newspaper reporters to Larry King’s CNN TV show.

Anderson’s father, Bruce Anderson, had been a substitute teacher in the Everett School District and is pictured in Cascade’s 1995 yearbook as an English teacher.

Gary Axtell, then principal at Cascade who has since retired, remembered the Andersons fondly.

"(Ryan) was just an excellent kid, and he comes from an outstanding family," Axtell said, noting that he was listening to news reports on the radio when he heard about Anderson’s arrest. "I thought, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I was just very, very surprised."

Also in the yearbook was a half-page ad featuring a family photo and another picture of him as a mop-topped boy in overalls riding a bicycle.

The caption read in part: "And the Adventure Begins."

Ryan Asplund had some of the same classes as Anderson at Cascade. They often stood in line together because their last names were close alphabetically.

"It was kind of shocking. How else could you put it?" Asplund said.

Asplund remembers Anderson as quiet and reserved.

"He was a nice guy," he said.

More than two dozen other teachers, staff and fellow 1995 graduates couldn’t remember many details about Anderson.

As Anderson’s arrest dominated the news, others came forward to say they had crossed paths with the outspoken but amiable soldier.

Michael Martinez met Anderson in June 1999 when he and some friends dropped by a gravel pit near Granite Falls.

"I had my camera there because I like to take photos. (Anderson) was wearing an old World War II helmet and had this French rifle and had combat boots on," said Martinez, who lived in Lynnwood at the time but now lives in Ohio.

He asked Anderson if he could snap his picture. The young man complied, holding his rifle in a variety of poses.

Martinez said he was surprised when he saw Anderson’s photo on the national news. The young man had made an impression.

"He was friendly enough," Martinez said.

Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.