Teen arrested in alleged ISIS-inspired attack plot intended for New Year’s Eve near Charlotte

By Alisha Ebrahimji, Dianne Gallagher, CNN

(CNN) — After about a year of planning, an 18-year-old was arrested on New Year’s Eve in a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, accused by federal prosecutors and the FBI of intending to carry out a terror attack using knives and hammers that same day.

Christian Sturdivant was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, Russ Ferguson, US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced in a joint news conference with the FBI late Friday morning.

The teen was communicating online with someone he thought was a member of the violent extremist group, ISIS, Ferguson said. Instead, he was chatting with an undercover NYPD agent.

Sturdivant, a US citizen, was arrested before any such plan could commence on New Year’s Eve as he was being released from a medical facility, James C. Barnacle Jr., FBI special agent in charge, said. While the teen planned to carry out an attack that day, it was not tied to a specific New Year’s event.

Sturdivant is currently being held at Gaston County Jail on a federal hold, jail records show. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted, Ferguson said. The teen appeared in court for the first time Friday and another hearing is set for January 7. CNN has reached out to his attorney but has not heard back.

This appears to be at least the second known alleged attack plot disrupted during the New Year holiday this year following a separate incident in Los Angeles, where the FBI arrested four people for allegedly working together on a bomb plot that was set to take place around the city on New Year’s Eve.

Teen plotted to ‘do Jihad soon,’ authorities said

From conversations with two undercover agents, Ferguson said it became clear Sturdivant was planning to “do Jihad soon,” clearly outlining to agents the venue for his alleged attack: a local grocery store and a fast food restaurant in Mint Hill, a Charlotte suburb more than 10 miles outside the city.

During a search warrant executed at Sturdivant’s home, FBI agents found hammers and knives hidden under his bed, handwritten notes about the alleged plot and a list of targets along with details about what he’d wear during and how he would execute it.

From what authorities described as a manifesto, titled “New Years Attack 2026,” investigators gathered Sturdivant was targeting Jews, Christians and the LGBTQ community with a goal to stab “as many civilians as possible,” authorities said.

The note also had a section headlined as “martyrdom op,” which described a plan to attack any law enforcement that responded to the attack with the intent that Sturdivant would die a martyr, the FBI said.

Ferguson called the attack “very well planned,” adding 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 learned of Sturdivant in January 2022 when he “was in contact via social media with an unidentified ISIS member overseas,” Barnacle said.

That member, the FBI said, directed the then 14-year-old to dress in all black, knock on doors and attack people with a hammer – guidance Sturdivant followed closely before a family member stepped in.

No charges were filed at the time, Barnacle said, and Sturdivant was referred for psychological care with no access to social media, the FBI was told.

A week before Christmas, the Charlotte FBI field office learned he was back online posting pro-ISIS TikToks under a pseudonym authorities verified belonged to him and a two-week investigation into Sturdivant’s activities ensued.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.