FBI says it foiled a terrorist attack planned in North Carolina on New Year’s Eve
The FBI said Friday it had foiled a terrorist attack planned for New Year’s Eve in North Carolina.
Federal law enforcement officials announced at a news conference that Christian Sturdivant, 18, of Mint Hill, North Carolina, was arrested and federally charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
At a news conference Friday morning, investigators from the FBI, Justice Department and partner agencies said Sturdivant took inspiration from the terrorist group Islamic State, or ISIS, and planned to attack a grocery store and Burger King restaurant on New Year’s Eve in Mint Hill, a suburban Charlotte suburb. Officials said he was a Burger King employee, but they did not identify which grocery store they believed he planned to attack.
“We could be announcing a national tragedy. Instead, a terrorist attack was foiled,” said FBI Special Agent James Barnacle.
Officials said he had been planning this attack for about a year, but was planning an attack “much longer.” Investigators said he spent a lot of time on the internet reading ISIS-related material and created TikTok videos about ISIS.
During a search warrant executed at Sturdivant’s home, authorities found notes detailing his plan and the equipment he intended to use in the attack, including hammers and knives hidden under his bed, said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson of the Western District of North Carolina. An affidavit said tactical gloves and a Kevlar vest were found in his room, and a handwritten note said he hoped to die at the hands of police.
Sturdivant planned to target a broad swath of American society, including non-Muslim people, LGBTQ people, as well as law enforcement and military personnel, the affidavit said.
“It was a very well-planned, thoughtful attack that he planned, and fortunately was foiled. Here he was preparing for jihad, and innocent people were going to die, and we were very, very lucky that they didn’t,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said he wanted to attack a grocery store because “he was looking for a prestigious location” and he “knew there would be a lot of people there.”
Sturdivant was communicating online with undercover New York Police officers and FBI agents who he believed to be members of ISIS, Ferguson said.
Sturdivant first appeared on the FBI’s radar in 2022 as a juvenile when he left his house dressed in black to kill his neighbor with a hammer and knife, but was stopped by his grandfather, Barnacle said. No charges were filed at this time. Instead, he was referred and received psychological treatment, said Barnacle, who added that they did not know the details of that treatment.
Officials said Friday that Sturdivant’s latest plot remains an active investigation.
Asked if this was a lone wolf situation or if there was a connection to other recently foiled plots in the United States, officials at the news conference said they believed Sturdivant was working alone.
In October, the FBI said it foiled “a potential terrorist attack” over Halloween weekend in Michigan. Federal agents have arrested five people for an alleged plot to carry out an attack in the United States with links to ISIS extremism.
And in December, federal law enforcement arrested four people in connection with an alleged plot to detonate bombs in the Los Angeles area on New Year’s Eve, although that plot was not linked to ISIS. Attorney General Pam Bondi said it was planned by members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which she described as a “far-left” group.
