What we know about Christian Sturdivant, accused of plotting ISIS-inspired attack

The suspect accused of plotting a New Yr’s Eve assault on a grocery store and fast-food restaurant in North Carolina labored at a Burger King and hid knives and hammers underneath his mattress at the same time as his grandparents tried to safe the potential weapons, prosecutors revealed Friday.

Christian Sturdivant, 18, of Mint Hill, a metropolis outdoors Charlotte, was arrested and charged with trying to supply materials help to a international terrorist group, U.S. Lawyer for the Western District of North Carolina Russ Ferguson mentioned.

“What we do know is that the grandfather had secured the knives in the home, secured the hammers, and tried to ensure Mr. Sturdivant did not have them. And but, once we executed the search warrant, they had been discovered underneath his mattress,” Ferguson advised reporters at a information convention Friday.

Ferguson added that the assault was deliberate to happen in Mint Hill, and that the suspect labored at a Burger King.

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Christian Sturdivant, the 18-year-old suspect from Mint Hill, NC, charged with plotting a New Yr’s Eve assault in help of ISIS. (Gaston County Sheriff’s Workplace)

“He was making ready for jihad and harmless individuals had been going to die. And we had been fortunate that did not occur,” Ferguson mentioned. “I can inform from his notes that he focused Jews, Christians and LGBTQ people.”

James C. Barnacle Jr., particular agent answerable for the FBI’s Charlotte Subject Workplace, mentioned Friday that Sturdivant first caught the bureau’s consideration in January 2022, when he was a juvenile.

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Prosecutors mentioned that “regulation enforcement officers seized from Sturdivant’s bed room a blue hammer, a wooden-handled hammer and two butcher knives hidden underneath the suspect’s mattress.” On the precise is a be aware titled “New Yr’s Assault 2026,” which prosecutors say was discovered by police throughout a December 29, 2025 search of Sturdivant’s dwelling in Mint Hill, NC. (United States Lawyer for the Western District of North Carolina)

“He had contact by way of social media with an unidentified ISIS member overseas. Sturdivant was instructed by this unidentified ISIS member to decorate in all black, knock on individuals’s doorways and assault them with a hammer. Sturdivant even wearing all black. He left this home with a hammer and fortuitously his household intervened,” Barnacle continued. “No costs had been laid on the time. He was referred for psychological care and he underwent psychological care.

“Christian Sturdivant pledged his loyalty to ISIS and dedicated to killing Individuals on New Yr’s Eve.

“Police additionally seized from Sturdivant’s bed room a goal record, in addition to tactical gloves and a vest obtained as a part of the suspect’s deliberate assault,” prosecutors mentioned. (United States Lawyer for the Western District of North Carolina)

“We do have some data that he was a grocery retailer as a result of there can be lots of people there. He knew lots of people can be procuring there. … He was searching for a high-profile place,” Barnacle added.

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‘There are just a few supermarkets in Mint Hill. He did not wish to have one. He checked out a number of, the place most individuals had been sitting.’