Hold onto your hats, folks—the FBI just stopped a chilling ISIS-inspired attack planned for New Year’s Eve 2025 in a small North Carolina town.
According to Fox News, on January 2, 2026, prosecutors revealed that 18-year-old Christian Sturdivant from Mint Hill, near Charlotte, was arrested for plotting a violent assault on a grocery store and a fast food restaurant, and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Back in January 2022, Sturdivant, then a juvenile, first caught the FBI’s eye after online chats with an overseas ISIS contact who urged him to carry out hammer attacks.
Fortunately, his family stepped in before any harm was done in 2022, and with no charges filed, he was directed to psychological care.
Fast forward to December 2025, and Sturdivant was back on the radar, posting social media messages supporting ISIS and advocating harm to non-believers, according to legal authorities.
By December 14, 2025, he was allegedly sharing images of hammers and a knife with someone he thought was an ISIS affiliate, but who turned out to be a covert government operative.
In those online exchanges, Sturdivant reportedly called himself a soldier of ISIS and hinted at an imminent violent act, discussing plans to target a specific grocery store with knives and possibly a firearm. His chilling intent became clearer when law enforcement searched his Mint Hill home on December 29, 2025, finding two hammers and two butcher knives stashed under his bed.
They also uncovered handwritten notes, one ominously titled to reflect a planned strike on New Year’s Eve 2026, detailing a goal to harm 20 to 21 civilians using tactical gear like a vest and gloves.
Prosecutors confirmed the intended targets were everyday spots—a grocery store and a fast food joint in Mint Hill, where Sturdivant worked at a Burger King.
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson noted, “He talked about where he was planning to do this attack — at a grocery store and a fast food restaurant in Mint Hill.”
While that paints a terrifying picture of striking at the heart of normal life, it’s a reminder that vigilance, not overreaction, is our best defense against such threats, especially when notes revealed his focus on specific communities like Jews, Christians, and LGBTQ individuals.
FBI Director Kash Patel praised the effort, stating, “The FBI and our partners continued working 24/7 over the holidays protecting the American people, and this case out of Charlotte foiling another alleged New Year’s Eve attacker is the latest example of their tremendous work.”
That dedication is commendable, but let’s not forget the broader lesson—while some may downplay online radicalization as mere chatter, cases like Sturdivant’s, who planned a “martyrdom” operation to die while attacking police, show the danger is real and demands action over endless debate.
Now in federal custody, Sturdivant faces up to 20 years if convicted, and officials stress that community awareness of troubling behavior is vital to stopping such plots, proving that safety isn’t just law enforcement’s job—it’s a shared duty in a world where ideology can turn deadly.