Feds add 4 pro-Palestinian activists in University of Michigan threats case

Robert Snell, The Detroit News on Oct 30, 2026

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DETROIT — Federal prosecutors unsealed a new indictment Friday charging four more people in connection with an alleged conspiracy involving a group of pro-Palestinian activists accused of waging a campaign of threats and vandalism targeting University of Michigan leaders, police, and businesses.

The 64-page indictment brings to a total of 12 people charged in an investigation that emerged in the wake of Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The group is accused of orchestrating a campaign of terror that involved spray-painting and defacing homes and properties, throwing stink bombs into at least one UM regent's home, and talking about kidnapping and firebombing other targets, including a pro-life center.

The case was unsealed five months after an initial indictment alleged the group issued threats and vandalism designed to force UM to sever ties with Israel.

“These alleged attempts to terrorize our Jewish community and government officials are nothing new,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said in a statement. “From Pharaoh to Hitler to Hamas, those who terrorize Jews have been the bad guys. As Americans, our job is to fight the bad guys.”

The four new defendants are: Henry David MacKeen-Shapiro, 23, of Detroit; Aaron Hunter Vonbargen, 25, of Ypsilanti; Joseph Mark Fisher, 23, hometown not immediately available; and Srishti Tarana Sharma, 23, of Canada.

Defense attorneys for the group are not listed in court records.

“Those who believe they can threaten families, hide behind a group, and avoid accountability should think again. Justice will find you,” Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Detroit, said in a statement.

The eight people who were charged in May are: Zainab Hakim, 23, of Canton Township, the accused ringleader; Amatullah Hakim, 21, of Ann Arbor, who is referred to in the indictment as Zainab's "sister"; Paige Feyock, 26, of Ann Arbor, who is portrayed by the government as the group's countersurveillance expert and had access to a police scanner that she used; Ahmet Korkaya, 28, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who was a student at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Medical Scientist Training Program; Jonathan Zou, 24, of Ann Arbor, who was a rising senior studying engineering at UM; Alexander Sepulveda, 23, of Chicago, who graduated from UM in May 2026 from the College of Anthropology and co-founded the UM Chapter of the Jewish Voice for Peace; Mariam Odeh, 24, of Dearborn, who attended UM on a pre-medical track, pursuing a degree in international studies; and Colin Weger, 24, of Ann Arbor. Weger did not attend UM but worked with the rest of the defendants to vandalize property, including the Rolls Royce Solutions America Inc. location in Novi and a Maersk Shipping Company building in Romulus, according to federal prosecutors.