After about a year of planning, an 18-year-old was arrested on New Year’s Eve in a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, accused by federal prosecutors and the FBI of intending to carry out a terror attack using knives and hammers that same day.
Christian Sturdivant was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, Russ Ferguson, US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced in a joint news conference with the FBI.
The teen was communicating online with someone he thought was a member of the violent extremist group, ISIS, Ferguson said. Instead, he was chatting with an undercover NYPD agent.
Known to FBI since the age of 14
In January 2022, the FBI initially identified Sturdivant when he engaged with an unknown ISIS affiliate through social media, according to Barnacle.
The FBI reported that this ISIS contact instructed the 14-year-old to wear black clothing, approach strangers’ doors, and assault them using a hammer. Sturdivant began carrying out these instructions until a family member intervened.
No charges were filed at the time, Barnacle said, and Sturdivant was referred for psychological care with no access to social media, the FBI was told.
A week before Christmas, the Charlotte FBI field office learned he was back online posting pro-ISIS TikToks under a pseudonym authorities verified belonged to him and a two-week investigation into Sturdivant’s activities ensued.
