FBI says it disrupted a potential New Year's Eve attack inspired by
Islamic State group
[January 02, 2026]
GARY D. ROBERTSON and ERIK VERDUZCO
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The FBI said Friday it had disrupted a plot to
attack a North Carolina grocery store and fast-food restaurant on New
Year's Eve, arresting a man who officials said was inspired by the
Islamic State group and had pledged loyalty to the extremist militants.
Christian Sturdivant, 18, was charged with attempting to provide
material support to a foreign terror organization after officials say he
communicated his attack plans to an undercover FBI employee who was
posing as an encouraging confidant.
He was arrested by federal agents on Wednesday. He remained held
following a Friday morning court appearance. Another hearing is set for
Jan. 7. The lawyer representing Sturdivant in federal court on Friday
didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
An FBI affidavit filed in the case said Sturdivant came under
investigation last month following information that a social media
account, which officials connected to Sturdivant, had made posts
supportive of IS. Those included posts that depicted a ballistic vest
and appeared to promote violence, the affidavit said, and the display
name for the account referenced the name of the late IS leader, Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi.
Sturdivant began communicating on social media with someone who he
thought was supportive of his plans but who was actually an undercover
FBI employee, the affidavit said.
Russ Ferguson, the U.S. Attorney for western North Carolina, declined to
name the grocery store and fast-food restaurant that were allegedly
targeted, citing the ongoing investigation. But he said both were in
Mint Hill, a small bedroom community of Charlotte.
The affidavit says Sturdivant had been on the FBI's radar in January
2022, when he was a minor, after officials learned that he had been in
contact with an IS member in Europe and had received instructions to
dress in all black, knock on people's doors and commit attacks with a
hammer.
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An FBI seal is displayed on a podium before a news conference at the
field office in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP
Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
Sturdivant did actually set out for a neighbor's house armed with a
hammer and a knife but was restrained by his grandfather, the
affidavit says.
The North Carolina attack would’ve come a year after 14 people were
killed in New Orleans by a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who had
proclaimed his support for IS on social media.
Other IS-inspired attacks over the past decade include a 2015
shooting rampage by a husband-and-wife team who killed 14 people in
San Bernardino, California, and a 2016 massacre at a gay nightclub
in Orlando, Florida, by a gunman who fatally shot 49 people.
The FBI has foiled several alleged attacks through sting operations
in which agents posed as terror supporters, supplying advice and
equipment. Critics say the strategy can amount to entrapment of
mentally vulnerable people who wouldn’t have the wherewithal to act
alone.
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press
writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.
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