The FBI thwarted an ISIS-inspired New Year’s Eve attack inside a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina, after the suspect revealed his alleged plans to undercover officers, prosecutors said.
Christian Sturdivant, 18, was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, prosecutors said Friday, and had been on the FBI’s radar since 2022.
Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, alleged that Sturdivant went on ISIS websites and “eventually reached out to what he thought was a member of ISIS.”
“In reality, [it] was an undercover agent with NYPD in New York,” Ferguson said at a press conference. “He pledged his allegiance to ISIS with that undercover agent, and he disclosed his plans to quote ‘do jihad soon.’”
“He then met a second undercover with the FBI, who he also thought was an ISIS participant,” Ferguson continued. “And he started to be very specific with his plans.”
Sturdivant allegedly revealed his plans to carry out the attack at a grocery store in Mint Hill.
“He talked about what means he would use to kill innocent people,” Ferguson said. “It was a very well planned attack that he had planned, and that was fortunately foiled.”
During a search of the suspect’s home on Dec. 29, law enforcement found handwritten documents, including one titled “New Years Attack 2026.”
“We allege Sturdivant was willing to sacrifice himself by committing a terrorist attack using knives and a hammer to support the murder, torture and extreme violence that ISIS represents,” added James Barnacle, the FBI Charlotte Special Agent in charge of the investigation.
“We didn’t just learn about him a few weeks ago. Sturdivant first came to the FBI radar in January of 2022 when he was still a juvenile,” he added.
It comes a year on from the deadly New Orleans attack on revellers ringing in the new year on Bourbon Street on January 1, 2025.
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