The FBI said it “thwarted a potential” New Year’s Eve terror attack in North Carolina.
The Justice Department charged Christian Sturdivant with allegedly attempting to carry out a knife and hammer attack against random individuals on New Years Eve in support of ISIS, according to court records unsealed on Friday.
“Thanks to our great partners for working with us and undoubtedly 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 target a grocery store or a Burger King in North Carolina with a knife attack and allegedly said the U.S. would pay for their retaliatory attack on ISIS targets after two national guardsmen were killed in December, according to the court documents.
The investigation into Sturdivant started in 2022, when he was a minor, according to court records.
Sturdivant started on the internet reading ISIS material, going to ISIS websites, making TikTok videos and eventually reaching out to what he thought was a member of ISIS. In reality, that person was an undercover agent with the NYPD, investigators told reporters at a news conference Friday.
Evidence photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice after the FBI said it ‘thwarted a potential’ New Year’s Eve terror attack in North Carolina.
U.S. Department of Justice
He pledged his allegiance to ISISI with that undercover agent and he disclosed his plans to “do jihad soon,” according to Russ Ferguson, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Sturdivant allegedly met a second undercover with the FBI, who he also thought was an ISIS participant and started to be very specific with his plans.
“The fact that along the way in this extensive planning of this attack, he encountered not one but two undercover officers should make the public feel very, very good and vert safe,” Ferguson said.
When authorities searched his home, they say they found a handwritten document titled “The New Years Attack” in which “it listed a goal of stabbing as many civilians as possible and total number of victims as 20 or 21,” the court documents allege.
Authorities also found an alleged handwritten note professing a plea for Jihad, the court documents said.
Sturdivant, according to his alleged notes, was seeking “pure destruction of America and the west,” the court documents said.
The FBI alleged he was communicating with an alleged member of ISIS at the time who encouraged him to carry out a knife attack against his neighbor “with a hammer and knife.”
He was almost out the door “dressed in all black,” when he was restrained by his grandfather, court records alleged.
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, the court documents said.
In one post, the FBI alleged the language was “consistent” with ISIS “historic practice” of calling for the extermination of “non-believers,” according to court documents.
The FBI said that on Dec. 13, while the suspect was talking to an undercover employee, he stated he was a “soldier of the state,” referring to ISIS, according to the court document.
Evidence photo released by the U.S. Department of Justice after the FBI said it “thwarted a potential” New Year’s Eve terror attack in North Carolina.
U.S. Department of Justice
On the same day, Sturdivant posted about soon “meeting Allah,” the court document alleged. The FBI alleged this post was a coded reference to ISIS, according to the court document.
The next day, Sturdivant allegedly sent the undercover a picture of a hammer and knife and “making the hand sign” of the Shahada, an Islamic oath, the court document alleged.
The FBI alleged that the symbol had been used in previous ISIS attacks. The suspect allegedly told the undercover on the same day that he was making the plan for a year, the court document said.
“I’m prepared for death,” he allegedly told the undercover in a message on Dec. 15, according to the court document.
The suspect said he would be targeting “Christian pagans and lgbtq,” the court document alleged. He said he has a code name for the day, so when it happens, ISIS can claim responsibility, according to the court document.
The suspect allegedly attempted to acquire a gun from an undercover FBI agent a day after Christmas, all the while 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 search of his home, investigators allegedly found a hammer and a note outlining the two alleged attacks, according to the court document.
One note was titled “Burger King Jihad” and the plan B was a grocery store attack, the court document alleged.
Sturdivant allegedly wrote that he would go into the bathroom to put a mask on and carry out the attack with a knife, according to the court document.
Sturdivant was arrested on New Year’s Eve, made his initial appearance in federal court this morning and the case now goes through the judicial process but he is facing a maximum sentence of 20 years, according to investigators.
The FBI took Sturdivant to state magistrate judge to try to have him involuntarily committed because he had threatened not only other people’s lives but in the process, said he has planned to die by a police officer shooting him, investigators said.
The state magistrate judge denied involuntary commitment, but the FBI did not give up and continued to build the case to charge him and detain him, according to investigators.
Attorney information for Sturdivant was not immediately available.
Source: abc news
