Christian Sturdivant, an 18-year-old man, was arrested after the FBI said it disrupted a New Year’s Eve attack plot in North Carolina inspired by the Islamic State group. Federal officials said Sturdivant had planned to target a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant, but that the plot was stopped before it could be carried out.
In court and at a news conference in Charlotte, federal prosecutors said the case centered on an online and in-person effort to convince others to support the plan. Investigators said Sturdivant told an undercover FBI employee posing as a supportive confidant about his plans to attack people.
The FBI said investigators’ online messages, along with a search of Sturdivant’s home, indicated the attacks would involve knives and hammers. Investigators also said the planned violence could have happened before New Year’s Eve, prompting what they described as close monitoring.
U.S. Attorney for Western North Carolina Russ Ferguson said the FBI placed Sturdivant under constant surveillance for days, including on Christmas. Ferguson said at the news conference that “At no point was the public in harm’s way.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge James Barnacle said searches of Sturdivant’s home and phone uncovered what investigators described as a manifesto detailing the planned attack. Barnacle also said Sturdivant “was willing to sacrifice himself.”
Prosecutors said a handwritten note found in a trash can at Sturdivant’s home listed details of the planned attacks and the number of intended victims at a Burger King restaurant and an unnamed grocery store, according to an FBI affidavit. Ferguson said the note also indicated Sturdivant would attack arriving officers and that he “hoped to die by the hands of police,” with the attack to take place in Mint Hill, described by Ferguson as a bedroom community of Charlotte.
The affidavit said a database check indicated Sturdivant worked at Burger King in Mint Hill, though Ferguson declined to say whether that was the same restaurant named in the note, citing the ongoing investigation. Ferguson also declined to identify the specific targeted businesses more generally.
Sturdivant was arrested Wednesday and remained in custody after a federal court appearance Friday. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the report, and another hearing was scheduled for Jan. 7. If convicted, court documents cited by federal officials said Sturdivant faces up to 20 years in prison.
Ferguson said the fact that Sturdivant encountered two undercover officers while allegedly planning the attack should reassure the public. The FBI affidavit said the investigation began last month after authorities linked Sturdivant to a social media account that posted content supportive of the Islamic State group, including imagery that appeared to promote violence, and that the account’s display name referenced Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The affidavit said the FBI had previously identified Sturdivant in January 2022, when he was a minor, after officials learned he had been in contact with a suspected Islamic State member in Europe. It said the instructions at that time included that Sturdivant dress in black, knock on people’s doors, and commit attacks with a hammer, and that Sturdivant set out for a neighbor’s house armed with a hammer and a knife but was restrained by his grandfather.
Barnacle said no charges were filed in 2022, that Sturdivant underwent psychological treatment, and that the FBI had been told he no longer had access to social media. Barnacle said the FBI learned weeks ago that Sturdivant was back on social media.
The case was discussed amid renewed scrutiny of sting operations used in some terrorism-related investigations. The report said critics argue those operations can amount to entrapment of mentally vulnerable people who would not have the wherewithal to act alone.