Christian Sturdivant, of Mint Hill, N.C., was indicted on federal charges for allegedly planning an attack on New Year’s Eve and for trying to support the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. Department of Justice stated on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old was arrested on Dec. 31, after the FBI learned that he was preparing to attack a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant with knives and hammers.
Prosecutors alleged that he intended “to harm as many people as possible until he was killed by law enforcement.”
Sturdivant told someone he believed to be an ISIS member that he would “do jihad soon” and described himself as a “soldier” in the U.S.-designated terror group. In fact, he was communicating with an undercover officer, the Justice Department said.
Authorities searched his home on Dec. 29. In his bedroom, they found handwritten notes outlining his plans and “two hammers and two butcher knives, a list of targets, as well as tactical gloves and a vest, all acquired as part of the defendant’s alleged planned attack,” prosecutors said.
If convicted, Sturdivant faces up to 20 years in prison.
