(NewsNation) — The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office announced federal charges on Friday against an 18-year-old man, following the disruption of an alleged New Year’s Eve attack in North Carolina.
Authorities have charged Christian Sturdivant with attempting to provide “material support to foreign terrorist organization.” Prosecutors allege he told an undercover agent posing as an ISIS member that he would “do Jihad soon.” Russ Ferguson, U.S. attorney for the western district of North Carolina, said Sturdivant told the undercover agent he planned to carry out the attack at a “grocery store and a fast-food restaurant in Mint Hill” on New Year’s Eve.
“He talked about what means he would use to kill innocent people,” Russ Ferguson, U.S. attorney for the western district of North Carolina, said. “He said he was going to wear a Kevlar vest and attack people with knives and hammers.”
Pictures provided in a press release of the weapons and attack plans the FBI found in the home of Christian Sturdivant. (U.S. Department of Justice) 
Pictures provided in a press release of the weapons and attack plans the FBI found in the home of Christian Sturdivant. (U.S. Department of Justice) 
Pictures provided in a press release of the weapons and attack plans the FBI found in the home of Christian Sturdivant. (U.S. Department of Justice) 
Pictures provided in a press release of the weapons and attack plans the FBI found in the home of Christian Sturdivant. (U.S. Department of Justice) 
Pictures provided in a press release of the weapons and attack plans the FBI found in the home of Christian Sturdivant. (U.S. Department of Justice)
He was arrested on New Year’s Eve. While executing a warrant at Sturdivant’s home, the FBI found the weapons he planned to use for the attack, including “hammers and knives hidden under his bed,” and notes detailing his plan.
“In the extensive planning of this attack, he encountered not one, but two undercover officers, should make the public feel very very good and very safe,” Ferguson said.
Sturdivant made his first appearance in court on Friday, with a preliminary hearing to be scheduled soon. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted.
James Barnacle, the FBI Charlotte Special Agent in Charge, said Sturdivant first came onto the FBI’s radar in January of 2022 when he was still a juvenile. Barnacle said Sturdivant was in contact with an “unidentified ISIS member overseas,” and was directed to dress in black, knock on doors and attack people with a hammer. Sturdivant was stopped from doing this by family; no charges were filed, and authorities were told he no longer had access to social media.
“On Dec. 18, a week prior to Christmas, the Charlotte field office learned it wasn’t true, that he was now back on social media,” Barnacle said.
Authorities were able to identify Sturdivant as the account holder of a TikTok that had made multiple posts in support of ISIS. Grandparents who Sturdivant lived with were interviewed by authorities, but have not been charged with any involvement.
The charges come amid a series of foiled attacks announced by the FBI in December. On Dec. 15, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the agency had foiled a “credible, imminent terrorist threat” planned for Los Angeles on Dec. 31. Patel said four arrests were made in connection with the alleged Los Angeles plan, which entailed “coordinated IED bombing attacks” across five locations in the city. Patel shared that another person had been arrested for a separate planned attack in New Orleans.
All five individuals were charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device, according to the First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
The FBI has stated that the four arrested in connection with the Los Angeles plan belong to a “radical offshoot” of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, a group that he described as being “motivated by pro-Palestinian, anti-law-enforcement, and anti-government ideology.”