North Carolina teen charged with ISIS-inspired terror plot said he planned to 'do jihad soon'
"He was preparing for jihad and innocent people were going to die''
The U.S. Justice Department announced on Friday that it thwarted a plan to carry out a jihadist terror attack by a North Carolina man on New Year’s Eve. The indictment quoted 18-year-old Christian Sturdivant, apparently radicalized online by Islamic State propaganda, as saying he planned to "do jihad soon."
He was charged with "providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization."
Sturdivant had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and planned to carry out a stabbing attack at a grocery store and fast food restaurant in his hometown of Russ Ferguson, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, told reporters during a press conference.
"He was preparing for jihad and innocent people were going to die," Ferguson said.
FBI agents searching Sturdivant’s home found a handwritten document titled “New Years Attack 2026,” which allegedly discussed plans to stab up to 20 victims and attack responding police officers. Agents seized hammers and knives from his bedroom, according to a Justice Department statement, which cited information in a criminal complaint.
Authorities said they seized a manifesto entitled “New Years Attack 2026,” where Sturdivant explained he was out to target Jews, Christians and the LGBTQ community with a goal to stab “as many civilians as possible."
Sturdivant had planned the attack for about a year and communicated online in December with two undercover agents with the FBI and New York Police Department, whom he thought were affiliated with the Islamic State. He shared photos of two hammers and a knife and discussed plans for a coming attack, according to the complaint.
Sturdivant came on the FBI's radar initially in 2022 when he was in contact with an Islamic State member overseas and took steps to carry out an attack with a hammer. He was not charged in that incident and instead underwent psychological treatment, according to law enforcement officials.