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Washington — An 18-year-old from Idaho was arrested Saturday and accused of plotting to kill churchgoers in his city within the identify of ISIS, based on courtroom paperwork unsealed Monday.
Alexander Mercurio was charged in a felony criticism with offering materials help to a overseas terrorist group. He stays in custody and has not entered a plea, based on courtroom information.
Investigators alleged Mercurio was about to assault at the very least one church in his space on April 7 — a Sunday — with weapons, knives, and flammable chemical substances, however they stated they foiled his plans earlier than he might perform his plan.
Mercurio is accused of writing to an unnamed FBI supply that he was set to “cease shut by the church, equip the weapon(s) and storm the temple, killing as many individuals as attainable.” His aim, based on investigators, was to hold out an act of martyrdom earlier than the tip of Ramadan — the holy month noticed peacefully by Islam practitioners throughout the globe that emphasizes prayer and fasting — and pledge his allegiance to the chief of ISIS.
“I’m going to carry out a martyrdom operation very quickly,” he allegedly wrote in a single current message. “The targets would be the varied church buildings in my city.”
Within the newly-released courtroom paperwork, prosecutors described an evolution of beliefs starting in 2022 when messages and posts allegedly revealed {the teenager}’s curiosity in ISIS and his dad and mom’ obvious dissatisfaction along with his non secular beliefs. He saved media on his digital units together with a jihadi chant, investigators stated, and posted pro-ISIS materials on-line.
Court docket paperwork revealed Mercurio additionally allegedly instructed members of a terror-affiliated group chat that he had beforehand been involved with a person who was later arrested for offering monetary help to the terrorist group.
Earlier this yr, he met at varied factors with a confidential FBI supply and reiterated his need to die a martyr. In conferences and through on-line messaging, Mercurio allegedly revealed that he deliberate to “donate each final cent in my financial institution to the State (ISIS)” and needed to movie a video message in help of ISIS earlier than he carried out his assault.
“I actually wish to an operation,” investigators alleged he stated lately, and at a unique time instructed the confidential FBI supply that he needed to “repair” what he noticed as too many church buildings in his space.
In line with prosecutors, his plan concerned attacking his father with a steel pipe, stealing his weapons and utilizing them within the assault. Different parts allegedly included utilizing chemical substances like hand sanitizer or butane to destroy the church buildings he focused.
Charging paperwork alleged that on April 3, Mercurio declared his allegiance to the chief of ISIS, holding a knife and taking a photograph in entrance of a flag wielded by the terrorist group.
When requested by the FBI confidential supply on April 5 if he was going to postpone his plans, prosecutors stated Mercurio responded that he wasn’t, as described in courtroom information.
The FBI executed a search warrant at his household’s residence and arrested Mercurio on Saturday, sooner or later earlier than they stated he supposed to hold out the assault. Investigators seized a steel pipe, butane, hand sanitizer, a machete and a number of firearms locked in his father’s closet.
“The defendant swore an oath of loyalty to ISIS and deliberate to wage an assault in its identify on church buildings in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho,” Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland stated in an announcement saying Mercruio’s arrest on Monday. “Because of the investigative efforts of the FBI, the defendant was taken into custody earlier than he might act.”
An lawyer for the defendant couldn’t be instantly recognized.
The fees come simply days after federal legislation enforcement businesses together with the FBI and the Division of Homeland Safety issued a bulletin to legislation enforcement throughout the nation warning of “attainable threats to public gatherings in the US from risk actors” impressed by final month’s lethal terror assault on a Russian live performance corridor. ISIS-Okay claimed duty for the bloodbath that left over 100 lifeless.
Final week’s legislation enforcement bulletin obtained by CBS Information didn’t supply specifics however stated “ISIS-aligned media teams launched messaging encouraging assaults in opposition to different mass gatherings.”
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