The FBI stated it “thwarted a possible” New 12 months’s Eve terror assault in North Carolina.
The Justice Division charged Christian Sturdivant with allegedly trying to hold out a knife and hammer assault in opposition to random people on New Years Eve in assist of ISIS, in response to courtroom data unsealed on Friday.
“Because of our nice companions for working with us and undoubtedly saving lives,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on social media.
Sturdivant, who’s a U.S. citizen and turned 18 final month, allegedly deliberate to focus on a grocery retailer or a Burger King in North Carolina with a knife assault and allegedly stated the U.S. would pay for his or her retaliatory assault on ISIS targets after two nationwide guardsmen have been killed in December, in response to the courtroom paperwork.
The investigation into Sturdivant began in 2022, when he was a minor, in response to courtroom data.
Sturdivant began on the web studying ISIS materials, going to ISIS web sites, making TikTok movies and finally reaching out to what he thought was a member of ISIS. In actuality, that particular person was an secret agent with the NYPD, investigators informed reporters at a information convention Friday.
Proof photograph launched by the U.S. Division of Justice after the FBI stated it ‘thwarted a possible’ New 12 months’s Eve terror assault in North Carolina.
U.S. Division of Justice
He pledged his allegiance to ISISI with that secret agent and he disclosed his plans to “do jihad quickly,” in response to Russ Ferguson, the U.S. Lawyer for the Western District of North Carolina.
Sturdivant allegedly met a second undercover with the FBI, who he additionally thought was an ISIS participant and began to be very particular together with his plans.
“The truth that alongside the best way on this intensive planning of this assault, he encountered not one however two undercover officers ought to make the general public really feel very, superb and vert protected,” Ferguson stated.
When authorities searched his dwelling, they are saying they discovered a handwritten doc titled “The New Years Assault” by which “it listed a purpose of stabbing as many civilians as doable and complete variety of victims as 20 or 21,” the courtroom paperwork allege.
Authorities additionally discovered an alleged handwritten word professing a plea for Jihad, the courtroom paperwork stated.
Sturdivant, in response to his alleged notes, was searching for “pure destruction of America and the west,” the courtroom paperwork stated.
The FBI alleged he was speaking with an alleged member of ISIS on the time who inspired him to hold out a knife assault in opposition to his neighbor “with a hammer and knife.”
He was virtually out the door “wearing all black,” when he was restrained by his grandfather, courtroom data alleged.
The suspect’s grandfather works at a grocery retailer and is a Christian Minister within the Charlotte space, in response to courtroom data. Sturdivant labored at a Burger King, in response to courtroom data.
Final month, the FBI was alerted to his social media web page after he allegedly posted threats, the courtroom paperwork stated.
In a single publish, the FBI alleged the language was “constant” with ISIS “historic observe” of calling for the extermination of “non-believers,” in response to courtroom paperwork.
The FBI stated that on Dec. 13, whereas the suspect was speaking to an undercover worker, he said he was a “soldier of the state,” referring to ISIS, in response to the courtroom doc.
Proof photograph launched by the U.S. Division of Justice after the FBI stated it “thwarted a possible” New 12 months’s Eve terror assault in North Carolina.
U.S. Division of Justice
On the identical day, Sturdivant posted about quickly “assembly Allah,” the courtroom doc alleged. The FBI alleged this publish was a coded reference to ISIS, in response to the courtroom doc.
The following day, Sturdivant allegedly despatched the undercover an image of a hammer and knife and “making the hand signal” of the Shahada, an Islamic oath, the courtroom doc alleged.
The FBI alleged that the image had been utilized in earlier ISIS assaults. The suspect allegedly informed the undercover on the identical day that he was making the plan for a yr, the courtroom doc stated.
“I am ready for dying,” he allegedly informed the undercover in a message on Dec. 15, in response to the courtroom doc.
The suspect stated he could be focusing on “Christian pagans and lgbtq,” the courtroom doc alleged. He stated he has a code identify for the day, so when it occurs, ISIS can declare duty, in response to the courtroom doc.
The suspect allegedly tried to purchase a gun from an undercover FBI agent a day after Christmas, all of the whereas speaking about planning an assault, in response to the courtroom doc.
“ON or about December 27, 2025, Sturdivant informed the [undercover agent] he was getting ready for martyrdom,” the grievance alleges.
Throughout that search of his dwelling, investigators allegedly discovered a hammer and a word outlining the 2 alleged assaults, in response to the courtroom doc.
One word was titled “Burger King Jihad” and the plan B was a grocery retailer assault, the courtroom doc alleged.
Sturdivant allegedly wrote that he would go into the lavatory to place a masks on and perform the assault with a knife, in response to the courtroom doc.
Sturdivant was arrested on New 12 months’s Eve, made his preliminary look in federal courtroom this morning and the case now goes by way of the judicial course of however he’s dealing with a most sentence of 20 years, in response to investigators.
The FBI took Sturdivant to state Justice of the Peace decide to attempt to have him involuntarily dedicated as a result of he had threatened not solely different individuals’s lives however within the course of, stated he has deliberate to die by a police officer taking pictures him, investigators stated.
The state Justice of the Peace decide denied involuntary dedication, however the FBI didn’t hand over and continued to construct the case to cost him and detain him, in response to investigators.
Lawyer info for Sturdivant was not instantly out there.
