Two arrested in alleged plot to attack Houston synagogue, school

Investigators said a tip sent Tuesday evening opened a fast-moving terrorism case that ended with arrests over an alleged plan to drive a vehicle through Congregation Beth Israel in Houston and kill as many Jews as possible.

Angelina Han Hicks, 18, of Lexington, North Carolina, was arrested April 22, 2026, and held on $10 million bond on felony conspiracy charges. A 16-year-old in Harris County, Texas, was also charged in connection with the case. The alleged target, Congregation Beth Israel, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Texas, founded in 1854, and its affiliated Shlenker School, a preschool and elementary school on the same campus, was closed during the threat response.

The FBI said the case began after a tip to a North Carolina law enforcement agency and that the Charlotte and Houston field offices worked with the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, Houston police and the Alief ISD Police Department. Court documents said Hicks was tied to two co-conspirators referred to as Teegan and Angel, and that the alleged plot referenced an April 21, 2028 attack date. At the same time, a local prosecutor said authorities also had concern about an imminent event, underscoring how quickly the case became a threat-prevention operation rather than a routine arrest.

A Davidson County judge said Hicks had to be detained because allowing communication with co-conspirators could put lives at risk. Hicks’s father, Dannie Hicks, rejected the allegations and called them “ludicrous,” saying his daughter viewed things as a “fantasy game.” Houston police later said there was no other known credible threat after the arrests.

The case has added to national anxiety around antisemitic violence and synagogue security. Jewish institutions around the world have increased precautions in recent years, and the Houston case came about a month after an armed man crashed a pickup truck into a Detroit-area synagogue. In Houston, the response centered on stopping a suspected attack before it could move beyond online planning and into action, with a synagogue, a school and multiple law enforcement agencies pulled into the same emergency. The arrests left one of the city’s most historically significant Jewish institutions secure for the moment, but they also showed how quickly threats against houses of worship can force immediate changes in public safety planning.