Yosof Wanly is the Imam at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis, Oregon.
Chris Lehman / Northwest News Network
The Muslim community in Corvallis is reacting with shock to news that a local teenager has been arrested in an alleged plot to explode a bomb in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Yosof Wanly is the Imam at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis. He says he knew Mohamed Osman Mohamud.
He says the 19-year-old Somali native was in many ways a typical student, attending parties and making friends.
Wanly stressed Mohamud's alleged plot does not represent the views of the Corvallis mosque, and that the teenager's arrest was a surprise.
Yosof Wanly: "I didn't see him too much here in the mosque, but when I got the chance to speak to him, I never noticed any type of ideology or methodology with regards to this approach, this extremist approach."
Wanly calls Mohamud's apparent extremism a "sad situation."
The Imam says there are about a thousand Muslims living in the Corvallis area. Many are students or staff at Oregon State University.
The school released a statement saying Mohamud had dropped all his courses in early October.
