An 18-year-old in the United States was arrested on New Year’s Eve in a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, after federal authorities accused him of planning a terror attack using knives and hammers that same day.
Christian Sturdivant was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, US Attorney Russ Ferguson announced at a joint news conference with the FBI Friday morning.
The teen had been communicating online with someone he believed was a member of ISIS. Instead, authorities said, he was speaking with an undercover NYPD agent.
Sturdivant, a US citizen, was apprehended before any attack could take place while being released from a medical facility, FBI Special Agent in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said.
The planned assault, though set for New Year’s Eve, was not connected to any specific holiday event.
Currently held at Gaston County Jail on a federal hold, Sturdivant faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted, Ferguson added.
He appeared in court Friday, with a follow-up hearing scheduled for January 7. CNN reached out to his attorney but received no response.
This case marks at least the second known plot disrupted during the New Year period, following a separate FBI operation in Los Angeles, where four people were arrested for allegedly planning a bomb attack around the city on New Year’s Eve.
Teen plotted to ‘do Jihad soon,’ authorities said
From chats with two undercover agents, Ferguson said it became clear Sturdivant was planning to “do Jihad soon,” specifying a local grocery store and a fast-food restaurant in Mint Hill, a Charlotte suburb more than 10 miles outside the city, as his targets.
A search of Sturdivant’s home revealed hammers and knives hidden under his bed, handwritten notes detailing the plot, a list of targets, and descriptions of what he would wear and how he intended to carry out the attack.
Authorities said he had written a manifesto titled “New Years Attack 2026,” which indicated he was targeting Jews, Christians, and the LGBTQ community with the aim to stab “as many civilians as possible.”
The note also contained a section labeled “martyrdom op,” outlining plans to attack responding law enforcement with the intent of dying a martyr, the FBI said.
Ferguson described the plot as “very well planned,” emphasizing that “Sturdivant was preparing for Jihad and innocent people were going to die, and we were very, very fortunate they did not.”
Known to FBI since the age of 14
The FBI first became aware of Sturdivant in January 2022, when he “was in contact via social media with an unidentified ISIS member overseas,” Barnacle said.
That contact reportedly instructed the then 14-year-old to dress in all black, knock on doors, and attack people with a hammer—a plan he followed until a family member intervened.
“No charges were filed at the time,” Barnacle said, and Sturdivant was referred for psychological care and barred from social media, according to the FBI.
Authorities became aware again of Sturdivant a week before Christmas, when he was found posting pro-ISIS TikToks under a pseudonym they confirmed belonged to him, sparking a two-week investigation into his activities.
