Washington ( CNN ) -- Two U.S. citizens from Seattle and Los Angeles -- described as `` would-be terrorists '' by the FBI -- have been arrested and charged with plotting to kill Americans enlisting in the armed forces in Seattle , federal officials announced Thursday . The men were identified as Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif , ( also known as Joseph Anthony Davis ) , 33 , of Seattle ; and Walli Mujahidh , ( also known as Frederick Domingue Jr. ) 32 , of Los Angeles . `` Driven by a violent extreme ideology , these two young Americans are charged with plotting to murder men and women who were enlisting in the armed forces to serve and protect our country , '' said a top counter-terrorism official at the Justice Department . Acting Assistant Attorney General Todd Hinnen said the threat was averted and the public was not endangered because of the intervention of the Joint Terrorism Task Force . When the suspects attempted to recruit a third man , that individual instead went to the police , authorities said . `` Because someone stepped forward we were able to disrupt a very deadly attack , '' said U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan . Agents began monitoring Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh in the past month and collected audio and videotapes of the pair discussing a violent assault on the Military Entrance Processing Station in Seattle . Law enforcement officials said that unbeknownst to the defendants , the weapons they obtained , including machine guns , were rendered inoperable and posed no risk to the public . The two suspects initially planned their attack on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state , but later changed targets and decided to assault the recruiting station . According to a source working with federal agents , Abdul-Latif said the original plan to attack Fort Lewis `` would be in retaliation for alleged crimes committed by United States soldiers in Afghanistan , '' a court document said . The subjects allegedly were interested in carrying out a deadly attack to gain maximum attention , according to the criminal complaint against them . `` We 're not only trying to kill people , we 're trying to send a message . We 're trying to get something that 's going to be on CNN and over the world . That 's what we want , '' said Abdul-Latif , according to the court document . Mujahidh was quoted in the document as saying , `` Ai n't gon na be no innocent women and children . That 's why I 'm saying we go in there and lay everybody down , man . Everybody in that building is connected with the military , '' he said . The two suspects appeared in federal court in Seattle late Thursday , where they heard the changes against them . They were not asked to enter a plea . The two men were ordered held without bail pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for July 7 . Both defendants said they could not afford attorneys , so the court provided them with public defenders . The plot allegedly involved a conspiracy to use grenades and firearms which they would use to kill the victims and then use to fight police as they made their escape . The men are scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Seattle later Thursday to hear the charges against them . CNN 's Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report .
Two accused of plotting against military recruits . Two are being held in Seattle . Comment: