FBI says it foiled a terrorist attack planned for New Year's Eve in North Carolina

The FBI said Friday that it foiled a terrorist attack planned for New Year’s Eve in North Carolina

The FBI said Friday that it foiled a terrorist attack planned for New Year’s Eve in North Carolina.

Federal law enforcement officials announced at a press conference that Christian Sturdivant, 18, of Mint Hill, North Carolina, has been arrested and federally charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

In a press conference Friday morning, investigators from the FBI, Justice Department and partner agencies said Sturdivant was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS, and planned to attack a grocery store and a Burger King restaurant on New Year’s Eve in Mint Hill, a suburb on the outskirts of Charlotte. Officials said that he was an employee at Burger King, but they did not identify which grocery store they believed he planned to attack.

“We could be announcing a national tragedy. Instead, a terrorist attack was thwarted,” said James Barnacle, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Charlotte field office.

Officials said he planned this attack for about a year, but was planning an attack for “far longer.” Investigators said he spent a lot of time on the internet reading ISIS-related material and created TikTok videos about ISIS.