The FBI thwarted an alleged New Year’s Eve terrorist attack in North Carolina, officials revealed on Friday.
“The accused allegedly wanted to be a soldier for ISIS and made plans to commit a violent attack on New Year’s Eve in support of that terrorist group, but the FBI and our partners put a stop to that,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Russ Ferguson said a teenage male had been arrested and charged on Wednesday with attempting to carry out an attack at a grocery store and restaurant in support of the Islamic State. The radical Islamic organization is widely known as ISIS, and has been linked to a number of sweeping violent terrorist attacks, including a deadly mass shooting targeting Jews at an Australian Hanukkah celebration last month.
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Christian Sturdivant, 18, planned to “attack a specific grocery store in North Carolina and discussed plans to purchase a firearm to use along with the knives during the attack,” prosecutors said, adding evidence pointed to his support for the terrorist group.
“During his online communications with the OC, Sturdivant said, ‘I will do jihad soon,’ and proclaimed he was ‘a soldier of the state,’ meaning ISIS,” according to the Justice Department.
Sturdivant faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted, after officials said he shared plans for the attack with an undercover FBI employee posing as a supportive confidant. Investigators found handwritten documents titled “New Year’s Attack 2026” at his residence, prosecutors added.
“It also listed a goal of stabbing as many civilians as possible and [the] total number of victims as 20 to 21. The note also included a section listed as ‘martyrdom Op,’ with a plan to attack police that arrived at the site of the attack so the defendant would die a martyr,” the Attorney’s Office said.
Sturdivant was under constant FBI surveillance for days prior to his arrest, including on Christmas, according to Ferguson. The fact that Sturdivant encountered two undercover officers while allegedly planning the attack should reassure the public, he added.
“At no point was the public in harm’s way,” Ferguson said.
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The alleged attack comes as the latest of several terrorist incidents that the FBI has recently said the agency has foiled.
In December, the DOJ announced it had arrested and charged multiple people accused of planning attacks in Los Angeles and New Orleans. The suspects were connected to the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which is a pro-Palestinian, anti-government, anti-capitalist organization, according to officials.