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2026-01-03 Home Front: WoT
FBI says it disrupted plot for New Year’s Eve terror attack inspired by Islamic State
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Posted by trailing wife 2026-01-03 2026-01-03 02:43|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [1828 views ]  Top
 File under: Islamic State 

1 
Given his name was Christian Sturdivant. A person would have figured he'd adopted Muhammad or something Muslim sounding at least since 2022. I guess, just another Internet Social Media indoctrinated deadly idiot.

Final Note: Persons caught in the final stages of terror attack planning should get life w/o parole. Not just 20 years.

Imagine this idiot in 10 to 20 years being released back on the streets and now prison educated.
Posted by NN2N1 2026-01-03 05:22||   2026-01-03 05:22|| Front Page Top

2 an undercover FBI employee [not an agent] posing as a supportive confidant

Did they outsource the chatbots?

A lonely, 'challenged' fanboy at 14 befriended by a web impostor and groomed for 4 years?

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.

"An accessory before-the-fact is a person who aids and abets, or encourages another to commit a crime but who is not present at the scene. An accessory before the fact, like an accomplice may be held criminally liable to the same extent as the principal. Many jurisdictions refer to an accessory before the fact as an accomplice."
Posted by Skidmark 2026-01-03 16:42||   2026-01-03 16:42|| Front Page Top

3 Christian is melanin-enhanced in the NY Post photos
Posted by Frank G 2026-01-03 18:28||   2026-01-03 18:28|| Front Page Top

4 I was curious about the family name, which sounds vaguely Dutch or Plattdeutsch to me, so I looked it up. From Wikipedia:

The Sturdivant Gang was a multi-generational, family gang of counterfeiters, whose criminal activities took place over a fifty-year period, from the 1780s, in Connecticut and Massachusetts, with one branch of the family going to Tennessee via Virginia and a second family branch going to Ohio and finally settled on the Illinois frontier, between the 1810s to 1830s.[6]

Of “European” ethnicity, unlike our current miscreant, but the name could have come form a wandering ancestor.
Posted by trailing wife 2026-01-03 19:23||   2026-01-03 19:23|| Front Page Top

5 From USA Today:

Who is Christian Sturdivant, the teen accused of plotting terror attack on New Year's Eve?
The 18-year-old was arrested on Dec. 31, accused of planning an attack on New Year’s Eve. The arrest comes years after he first landed on an FBI watchlist for acting on orders from ISIS.

A North Carolina teenager who the FBI says planned to carry out a New Year’s Eve attack inspired by the Islamic State was on an agency watchlist for years before his arrest on Dec. 31.

Christian Sturdivant, an 18-year-old Burger King worker, was arrested and charged with plotting a "potential terrorist attack" on a grocery store and fast food restaurant in his suburban Charlotte hometown of Mint Hill, authorities announced on Jan. 2.

Sturdivant "pledged his loyalty to ISIS" and intended to become a martyr "to support the murder, torture and extreme violence that ISIS represents," according to FBI Special Agent in Charge James Barnacle.

Barnacle said that the North Carolina teen’s affiliation with the extremist group represents "the very real threat posed by people who self-radicalize online."

It wasn't immediately clear if Sturdivant had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Here's what we know about Sturdivant.

Was Christian Sturdivant known to authorities?

Sturdivant's arrest comes about three years after another alleged plot first landed him on an FBI watchlist.

In January 2022, Sturdivant first made online contact with a member of ISIS based in Europe, according to federal court filings in the Western District of North Carolina.

The ISIS member told Sturdivant to "dress all in black, knock on people’s doors, and attack them with a hammer," a criminal complaint says. The teen left his house dressed in black to "kill his neighbor with a hammer and knife," but his grandfather restrained him and brought him home, court filings say.

Sturdivant underwent psychiatric care and had his social media access restricted, Barnacle said. Sturdivant's grandfather also secured knives that were in the home, he said.

Before the attempted attack, Sturdivant pledged "Bayat," or oath of allegiance, to ISIS, according to the FBI.

How did alleged New Year's Eve plot come about?

Sturdivant had been planning the alleged New Year’s Eve plot for about a year and was planning to attack people with knives and hammers, Ferguson said.

Authorities say they became aware of the threat after Sturdivant − a "prolific poster" on social media − shared his plans online with FBI agents posing as ISIS supporters.

Among the evidence found by authorities under Sturdivant's bed: knives, hammers and notes detailing his plans, Ferguson said.

Social media account inspired by ISIS chief leader

FBI investigators tracking Sturdivant’s online activities linked him to a social media account with the display name "Abu-Bakr-Al-Amriki," court filings say. The account published multiple posts showing support for ISIS.

The display name is an apparent homage to ISIS’ leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who became infamous worldwide after he proclaimed himself caliph in 2014, led ISIS to capture large swathes of Iraq and Syria and imposed in the region a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic Shari’a law to carry out mass killings.

Al-Amriki is Arabic for "the American" or "of America." The display name, FBI investigators say, signalled Sturdivant’s aspirations to be an American al-Baghdadi.

Al-Baghdadi died by suicide in October 2019 during a U.S. military operation.

What did Sturdivant say online?

The North Carolina teen repeatedly posted online in favor of ISIS and jihad, court filings show. Among his posts was a photo showing military-style gloves with a reference to a chapter of the Quran that refers to war with enemies of Islam, the records say.

Another post showed a ballistic vest with a caption reading: "Islam is on the rise. May Allah curse the crusade coalition." And in December, one of his posts showed two Jesus figurines and the caption: "May Allah curse the cross worshipers."

FBI agents became more directly involved after they say Sturdivant posted a photo that authorities interpreted as a signal that he would stage an attack around Christmas. The post was on Dec. 11.

"I will do jihad soon," the FBI says Sturdivant told undercover agents on Dec. 13. In other exchanges, the 18-year-old told agents that for a year he had been planning an attack in a public place on "Christian pagans and lgbtq."
Posted by trailing wife 2026-01-03 19:45||   2026-01-03 19:45|| Front Page Top

6 I don't believe them.
Posted by Hellfish 2026-01-03 22:06||   2026-01-03 22:06|| Front Page Top

7 Another plot the FBI invented themselves.
They do this all the time. We know this, right?
Posted by Elmomoter Mussolini9149 2026-01-03 23:00||   2026-01-03 23:00|| Front Page Top

23:08 3dc
23:00 Elmomoter Mussolini9149
22:58 Groluque Gloling9250
22:42 DarthVader
22:28 Skidmark
22:26 Vespasian Flinter4600
22:16 Hellfish
22:06 Hellfish
21:53 Lord Garth
21:46 trailing wife
20:54 badanov
20:13 Frank G
20:13 SteveS
19:58 Elmerert Hupens2660
19:45 trailing wife
19:40 trailing wife
19:23 trailing wife
19:14 trailing wife
19:07 Frank G
19:01 3dc
18:40 Bobby
18:35 Old Patriot
18:32 Frank G
18:28 Frank G
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