Police Chief speaks after stopping Thursday night event at local school

ALLEGAN, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Allegan's Police Chief is speaking after he made a decision on Thursday night to stop a self-described former terrorist from speaking in a public school.

A local group had received permission from the district to host the event at Allegan High School on Thursday night. The speaker was a man who converted from Islam to Christianity. However Allegan's Police Chief, Rick Hoyer, and the superintendent say they didn't know until the event was about to start that the speaker had a bounty on his head.

“We were there to protect everyone in a safe environment,” said Chief Hoyer.

Chief Hoyer says it wasn't until a police sergeant at the event spoke to event organizer Bill Sage and Kamal Saleem's armed body guard that he learned of what he deemed a potential danger.

“You got someone in the building who, as described by organizer Bill Sage, has a $25 million dollar bounty and Islamic extremists will follow that it's their duty to execute,” said Hoyer.

While those in the audience might have known Saleem's background, Hoyer says there were many others in the school that night who didn't, including a swim meet and a basketball game.

Police consulted with school leaders and decided that the speaker needed to be shut down for safety reasons.

“It's not about message,” said Hoyer. “It's about others who don't have control over when talking guns and death in a school setting.”

“We have a right to assemble in this country,” said Bill Sage to Newschannel 3 on Thursday night.

Sage says that what he relayed to the sergeant about the bounty was simply a rumor.

Some of the estimated 100 plus people in attendance for Thursday night's event met up at a nearby bowling alley after Saleem was told to leave the school.

Allegan Schools Superintendent tells Newschannel 3 that the original request to use the building didn't indicate who the speakers would be and the initial indication about the event was that it was a group of people talking about the constitution.

Chief Hoyer says he originally sent an officer to the event because he'd been told there might be people protesting, but says he had no idea the speaker himself could be a potential target for extremists.