The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Friday that it has successfully thwarted a planned attack targeting a grocery store and fast-food restaurant in North Carolina. The suspect, who authorities say was motivated by the Islamic State (IS) group, was apprehended for his alleged intentions to carry out the assault on New Year’s Eve.
Christian Sturdivant, an 18-year-old, faces charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. According to officials, he shared his attack plans with an undercover FBI agent who had been posing as a supportive confidant.
Sturdivant was taken into custody by federal agents on Wednesday and remains detained following a court appearance on Friday morning. He is scheduled for another hearing on January 7. Attempts to reach Sturdivant’s attorney for comment were unsuccessful.
The investigation into Sturdivant began last month after authorities received information about a social media account linked to him. The account reportedly contained posts endorsing the Islamic State, including images of a ballistic vest and messages promoting violence. The account also referenced Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the deceased leader of IS, according to an affidavit filed by the FBI.
Sturdivant was engaging on social media with an individual he believed supported his plans, but who was, in fact, an undercover FBI operative, as detailed in the affidavit.
Sturdivant began communicating on social media with someone who he thought was supportive of his plans but who was actually an undercover FBI employee, the affidavit said.
Russ Ferguson, the U.S. Attorney for western North Carolina, declined to name the grocery store and fast-food restaurant that were allegedly targeted, citing the ongoing investigation. But he said both were in Mint Hill, a small bedroom community of Charlotte.
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, knock on people’s doors and commit attacks with a hammer.
Sturdivant did actually set out for a neighbor’s house armed with a hammer and a knife but was restrained by his grandfather, the affidavit says.
The North Carolina attack would’ve come a year after 14 people were killed in New Orleans by a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who had proclaimed his support for IS on social media.
Other IS-inspired attacks over the past decade include a 2015 shooting rampage by a husband-and-wife team who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, and a 2016 massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a gunman who fatally shot 49 people.
The FBI has foiled several alleged attacks through sting operations in which agents posed as terror supporters, supplying advice and equipment. Critics say the strategy can amount to entrapment of mentally vulnerable people who wouldn’t have the wherewithal to act alone.
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.
