FBI says it thwarted possible New Year’s terror attack ‘directly inspired’ by ISIS

The FBI said it “thwarted a potential” New Year’s Eve terrorist attack in North Carolina.

The Justice Department charged Christian Sturdivant allegedly attempted to carry out a knife and hammer attack on random people on New Year’s Eve in support of ISIS, according to court records revealed Friday.

“Thank you to our great partners for working with us and, without a doubt, saving lives,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on social media.

Sturdivant, who is a U.S. citizen and turned 18 last month, allegedly planned to attack a grocery store or Burger King in North Carolina with a knife attack and allegedly said the United States would pay for his retaliatory attack against ISIS targets after two National Guardsmen were killed in December, according to court documents.

The investigation into Sturdivant It began in 2022, when he was a minor, according to court records.

resistant He started on the Internet reading ISIS material, visiting ISIS websites, making videos on TikTok, and finally contacting what he thought was an ISIS member. That person was actually an undercover NYPD officer, investigators told reporters at a news conference Friday.

He pledged allegiance to ISIS to that undercover agent and revealed his plans to “wage jihad soon,” according to Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

resistant He allegedly met a second undercover FBI agent, who he also thought was an ISIS participant, and began to get very specific with his plans.

“The fact that in the course of this extensive planning of this attack, he encountered not one but two undercover agents should make the public feel very, very good and very safe,” Ferguson said.

When authorities searched his home, they say they found a handwritten document titled “The New Year’s Attack” in which it “listed the goal of stabbing as many civilians as possible and the total number of victims was 20 or 21,” court documents allege.

Authorities also found an alleged handwritten note stating a pro-Jihad plea, according to court documents.

Sturdivant, according to his supposed notes, sought “pure destruction of the United States and the West,” the court documents said.

The FBI alleged that he was communicating with a suspected ISIS member at the time, who encouraged him to carry out a knife attack on his neighbor “with a hammer and a knife.”

He was almost out the door “dressed all in black” when his grandfather stopped him, court records allege.

The suspect’s grandfather works at a grocery store and is a Christian minister in the Charlotte area, according to court records. Sturdivant worked at a Burger King, according to court records.

Last month, the FBI was alerted to his social media page after he allegedly posted threats, according to court documents.

In a post, the FBI alleged that the language was “consistent” with ISIS’s “historical practice” of calling for the extermination of “non-believers,” according to court documents.

The FBI said that on Dec. 13, while the suspect was speaking with an undercover employee, he stated that he was a “soldier of the state,” referring to ISIS, according to the court document.

The same day, Sturdivant posted about “meeting Allah soon,” the court document alleges. The FBI alleged that this post was a coded reference to ISIS, according to the court document.

The next day, Sturdivant allegedly sent the undercover agent a photograph of a hammer and knife and “make the hand sign” of the Shahada, an Islamic oath, the court document alleges.

The FBI alleged that the symbol had been used in previous ISIS attacks. The suspect allegedly told the undercover agent the same day that he was making the plan. for one year, according to the court document.

“I am prepared for death,” he said. he allegedly told the undercover agent in a message on December 15, according to the court document.

The suspect said he would be aiming “Pagan and LGBTQ Christians,” the court document alleges. He said he has a code name for the day, so when happens, ISIS can claim responsibility, according to the court document.

The suspect allegedly attempted acquire a gun from an undercover FBI agent the day after Christmas while they were talking about planning an attack, according to the court document.

“On or about December 27, 2025, Sturdivant told the [undercover agent] he was preparing for martyrdom,” the complaint alleges.

during that In searching his home, investigators allegedly found a hammer and a note describing the two alleged attacks, according to the court document.

One note was titled “Burger King Jihad” and plan B was an attack on a grocery store, the court document alleges.

Sturdivant allegedly wrote that he would go to the bathroom to put on a mask and carry out the knife attack, according to the court document.

resistant He was arrested on New Year’s Eve, made his initial appearance in federal court this morning and the case is now going through the court process, but he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years, according to investigators.

The FBI took Sturdivant to the state judge to try to commit him involuntarily because he had not only threatened other people’s lives but in the process, said he planned to die at the hands of a police officer by shooting him, investigators said.

The state judge denied involuntary commitment, but the FBI did not give up and continued to build the case to charge and arrest him, according to investigators.

Attorney information for Sturdivant was not immediately available.