FBI Reveals Chilling New Details On Foiled Terror Plot

Federal agents say they stopped a teenage fast-food worker from turning New Year’s Eve into a bloodbath.

Christian Sturdivant, an 18-year-old Burger King employee from Mint Hill, North Carolina, was arrested Wednesday after allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired attack on a grocery store and a fast food restaurant using knives and hammers, authorities said Friday.

“He was preparing for jihad and innocent people were going to die,” US Attorney Russ Ferguson told reporters, describing the alleged plot as “very well-planned.”

Investigators say Sturdivant believed he was coordinating with ISIS operatives online, when in reality he was communicating with two undercover law enforcement agents.

In one message, Sturdivant told an agent: “I’m prepared for death.”

Ferguson said the suspect planned to strike on New Year’s Eve, when businesses would be crowded with people preparing to ring in 2026. Authorities said he had gathered a Kevlar vest along with knives and hammers ahead of the planned attack.

Christian Sturdivant’s mugshot. (Gaston County Jail)

Two knives and two hammers were recovered from beneath Sturdivant’s bed, along with a handwritten manifesto “where he detailed this attack,” according to the US attorney.

Ferguson alleged Sturdivant intended to target Jews, Christians and members of the LGBTQ community.

FBI special agent in charge James Barnacle said Sturdivant “pledged himself to ISIS and committed himself to killing Americans on New Year’s Eve.”

Sturdivant is charged with one count of attempted material support to ISIS and faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

He appeared in federal court in Charlotte on Friday morning and was ordered held without bail.

Authorities said the arrest was not the first warning sign. In 2020, when Sturdivant was 14, he triggered an FBI investigation after disclosing plans to attack neighbors with knives and hammers. His grandfather intervened, Barnacle said, and the teen received treatment and was kept off social media.

The case follows last year’s ISIS-inspired truck attack in New Orleans by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, which left 14 people dead and 57 injured on Bourbon Street as New Year’s Eve celebrations were winding down.

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