The FBI said it has disrupted a terror attack in North Carolina on New Year’s Eve, arresting a man they suspect was inspired by ISIS.
Christian Sturdivant, 18, has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terror organisation.
He was arrested by federal agents on Wednesday, just hours before he had allegedly planned to attack a grocery store and fast food restaurant in Mint Hill.
Officers say he was planning to use knives and hammers to unleash terror on shoppers, grabbing last-minute items for New Year’s.
Weapons were allegedly found under his bed, along with notes about his alleged terror plan, which was to target ‘Jews, Christians and LGBTQ individuals’.
He was caught when he began chatting about his plan to an undercover FBI agent, who Sturdivant thought was involved with ISIS, the agency said.
‘He was preparing for jihad, and innocent people were going to die,’ US Attorney Russ Ferguson said.
The affidavit says Sturdivant had been on the FBI’s radar in January 2022, when he was a minor, after officials learned that he had been in contact with an IS member in Europe and had received instructions to dress in all black and commit attacks with a hammer.
The planned attack has rocked the small town of Mint Hill, North Carolina, just outside of the state’s largest city, Charlotte.
‘We could be announcing a national tragedy. Instead, a terrorist attack was thwarted,’ said James Barnacle, an FBI Special Agent based in Charlotte.
Before his arrest, Sturdivant’s family reportedly tried to secure the home, with his grandfather securing the knives in the home, securing the hammers, and tried to make sure Sturdivant didn’t have them’.
More weapons were still found under Sturdivant’s bed when officers raided the home, Barnacle added.
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