LANGLEY PARK, Maryland — Prosecutors say Hasson lived in a cramped basement apartment in a small house in Langley Park.
It's a neighborhood that's 80 percent Hispanic. A place where, up to now Veronica Lau says she's felt safe. "Very scared," she says now.
Investigators say Hasson stockpiled guns and steroids here at the house. That he tapped out notes idolizing a Norwegian mass killer and "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on earth."
"I'm not surprised, to be honest," said neighbor Amy Sombuana. Her friend Maria Carrias says Hasson was quiet and had a disconcerting stare. "And we'd be like okay well why do you live in a neighborhood if you're going to treat everyone weird and stuff like that. And we would get really offended by that because of the way he'd sometimes stare at us, stare at my parents and stuff like that."
Immigrant advocates say the divisive political atmosphere has triggered an upsurge in hate crimes. "We've seen cases where people are afraid to come forward," said Lizette Olmos of the immigrant group CASA. She wonders if neighbors might have seen something suspicious but then been afraid to go to the police. "We encourage anyone who sees suspicious activity to call 911 and CASA as well."
An alleged mass murder plot has left a refuge for Latinos suddenly feeling less safe.
Prosecutors say Hasson has held neo-Nazi, skinhead and white supremacist views for years.