Speaker 1: What's going on.
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And again, thank you so much for your support. The
US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, Russ Ferguson,
also former WBT intern like twenty five years ago. Anyway,
held a news conference. It just concluded. I was watching
it as it was occurring, I recorded it and I
will rerack it to play it. So this just wrapped up.
It started at eleven thirty. The show obviously starts at noon,
so it just wrapped up. And during the break I
will get the audio racked up so you can hear
how this unfolded.
Speaker 1: But the story.
Speaker 2: Is that an eighteen year old from mint Hill, which
is one of the small towns outside of Charlotte, though
not so small anymore. Mint Hill sort of on that
eastern southeastern side of Charlotte in Mecklimer County. The eighteen
year old Christian Stirt Event has been arrested and charged
with attempting to provide materials support to ISIS after allegedly
planning an attack on New Year's Eve where he was.
According to the criminal complaint here at the federal level,
he was targeting a grocery store and a fast food restaurant.
Apparently what came out in the Q and A also
was that this individual worked at a king and that
may be related, so he may have looked to target
his own place of employment.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: They have not disclosed the names of the specific businesses
that he was planning to attack on New Year's Eve.
According to the authorities, he had been engaged in physical training,
so he was doing a lot of you know pt.
He had stolen weapons after his grandfather who lived with
him in Mint Hill. Apparently his grandfather, his grandparents, they
tried to to take all of the kinds of weapons
and lock them up and stuff, but he stole others.
He stole weapons and then hid them under his bed.
He faces a maximum of twenty years in prison if convicted.
The arrest took place on New Year's Eve. He was
under twenty four to seven surveillance at the time because
they were investigating and building a case and they knew
he was planning to do something on New Year's Eve
to target a grocery store because according to US attorney
rus Ferguson, he knew that there would be a lot
of people at the grocery store, but he was also
apparently talking about potentially targeting multiple grocery stores in mint Hill.
He did write some sort of a manifesto. He pledged
his loyalty to ISIS, which he did that in a
recording that he sent to individuals or an individual that
he thought was an ISIS operative but turned out to
be undercover law enforcement.
Speaker 1: Specifically FBI.
Speaker 2: He had apparently contacted two different undercover FBI agents as
well as I think a New York Police Department undercover
officer via social media he had been posting. They called
him a prolific poster on social media, specifically on TikTok,
but he would also go into various chat rooms. They
say he was radicalized online and according to the FBI
Special Agent in charge, James Barnacle, that typically it takes
anywhere from one to four years to radicalize somebody like
this online, but once radicalized, they will mobilize to act
in just just mere months, two to three months, once
sufficiently radicalized. Also, there is a bit of history here.
He was not exactly unknown to law enforcement. Apparently back
in January of twenty twenty two, so now four years ago,
he came across the FBI radar because he had attempted
to or successfully had contacted Isis when he was like
fourteen years old or so, fourteen or fifteen, and at
that point he when they had him investigated and then
they put him in for psychological counseling. And at that
point the FBI apparently closed its investigation into him because
he was getting the help that he needed, so to speak. Well,
then he reached back out a couple of well but
I think they're saying within the last month and a
half or so, reached back out to people that he
thought were Isis and that's what prompted the reopening of
an investigation against the guy. And that occurred somewhere around
like the second week of December, and from there it
was just a full blown investigation into him, and that's
why they put him under twenty four seven surveillance, and
they were ready to pick him up, you know, if
he was gonna, you know, if he walked out of
the house wearing all black as he did. Apparently back
in January of twenty two, his family had stopped him.
His grandfather had stopped him from a planned attack where
he was going to as was outlined in an ISIS
magazine that said, Hey, here's a neat thing to do.
Pledge your allegiance to Isis, dress all in black and
then take hammers and knives and go attack people randomly.
And so that's what this kid was going to do
back in January of twenty two. Apparently he had plans
to go out and just ring the doorbells of his
neighbors and attack them. So again he was thwarted in
that effort by his family. He was then sent for
psychological counseling and such. But then he reaches back out
in December around I think they said December twelfth or so.
That then prompts the investigation, the surveillance. They the FBI.
According to the US Attorney's Office and the US Attorney
Rus Ferguson, they went to a magistrate in Mecklenburg County
so a state level magistrate, don't know who. They did
not name the magistrate, but they went to a magistrate
first to try to get him involuntarily committed because of
what he had been saying in his communications and in
the chat room messages and such, and on social media.
He was talking about how he wanted to be martyred
and you know, have the law enforcement kill him and
all of this, and so they were like, hey, we
need to get this guy involuntarily committed. That request was
denied by a magistrate, a state level magistrate. They then
went to a federal magistrate, and the federal magistrate gave
them the probable cause to pick this guy up, which
they did on New Year's Eve. So because he was
under the surveillance authority say that he was that the
public was never in any danger because they had him
on their radar. They were watching him. So that's the
extent of what I gathered out of the press conference
that again just wrapped up about fifteen minutes ago, ran
about half an hour.
Speaker 1: I do have the audio.
Speaker 2: We can take a listen to it, but the phone
line's open as always seven oh four five seven zero
one oh seven nine. That's also the WBT text line
as well. You can also hit me up on Twitter
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the US Attorney's office announces that they have made an
arrest an eighteen year old. By the way, he is
a US citizen from mint Hill. Christian Sturt event is
his name. He is charged with plotting an ISIS inspired
terrorist attack targeting a grocery store or multiple stores, maybe
a fast food place or convenience store, gas station, with
hammers and knives. He was trying to get his hands
on a firearm. He was talking to what he thought
was ISIS operators inside the US, but it turned out
they were not ISIS. They were in fact members of
the FBI and the New York Police Department that he
had contacted via online social media platforms. I'm not sure
what all the platforms used. One that was mentioned was TikTok.
He apparently was what they called a prolific poster on
social media.
Speaker 1: So here is the.
Speaker 2: News conference that was just held about a half hour
before the show started. And again this is US Attorney
Russ ferguson Good morning.
Speaker 3: This audio will correct and it is a happy new year,
although it came very close to not being such a
happy new year for a lot of people this year.
I'm here to announce, in partnership with the Minhill Police
Department and the FBI that we have foiled a terrorist
attack that was planned to take place on New Year's
Eve in Minhill, North Carolina.
Speaker 4: Now, New Year's Eve, we all know is a wonderful
time where we.
Speaker 3: All celebrate the past year, we look forward to and
plan the next year. And everyone deserves to do that,
to celebrate the new year without being concerned about their
personal safety. And thanks to law enforcement that stands with
me today and others, we are fortunate that people can
do that. The FBI, the Minhill Police Department, the New
York Police Department worked around the clock on this matter,
not just building a case for us, but surveilling the
subject and making sure the public was safe at every moment,
including Christmas Day. They worked around the clock on this
and I very much appreciate it.
Speaker 4: The defendant here lived in Minhill.
Speaker 3: The planned attack was to take place in Minhill, and
I want to thank Chief Joe Hatley of the Minhill
Police Department for being with me here today and for
your work over the holidays.
Speaker 4: Chief, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you know Jim Barnacle by now he's the
Special Agent in charge of the FBI for North Carolina.
The FBI worked tirelessly on this case, and I can't
thank you enough for that. FBI agents spent their Christmas
Day surveilling a subject so that families in Charlotte and
Minhill and western North Carolina could spend their day celebrating
with their families. And I'm very thankful for that. That
is true public service. If you see a police officer
or an FBI agent, please thank them for spending their
holidays on this so that we all could spend our
holidays with our families. I also want to thank the
prosecutors of my office who also worked over the holidays
getting a search warrant and an arrest warrant and making
sure that the public was safe and that this.
Speaker 4: Terrorist attack was foiled.
Speaker 3: The defendant here is an eighteen year old named Christian Sturdivant.
He has been planning this attack for about a year,
but he's been planning an attack for far longer than that.
Speaker 4: He was planning this.
Speaker 3: Attack in support of ISIS, and we have charged them
with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization,
the heroization being, of course, ISIS. Now this is still
very much a active investigation we had to act quickly
here to protect the public. So we are light on details,
but will tell you as much as we can, and
mister Barnicle will probably tell you more than I will
about those charges, but I thought I would give you
an overview of what's in the federal complaint and the
charges that we charged.
Speaker 4: So mister Surtivant started on the internet.
Speaker 3: He started reading ISIS material, started going to ISIS websites,
making TikTok videos, and eventually reached out to what he
thought was a member of ISIS, in reality, was an
undercover agent with NYPD in New York. He pledged his
allegiance to ISIS with that undercover agent, and he disclosed
his plans to quote do jihad soon. He then met
a second undercover with the FBI, who he also thought
was an ISIS participant, and he started to be very
specific with his plans. He talked with that undercover agent
again who he thought was ISIS.
Speaker 4: He talked about where he was planning to do this attack.
Speaker 3: Which was at a grocery store and a fast food
restaurant in mint Hill, places that we go every day
and don't think that we may be harmed. He talked
about what means he would use to kill innocent people.
He said he was gonna wear a kevlar vest and
attack people with knives and hammers. And of course he
talked about when he was going to carry out this attack,
which was New Year's Eve, a time when American life
is on full display.
Speaker 4: Right, We're all.
Speaker 3: Out there in crowds celebrating all that has happened this year,
all that is.
Speaker 4: To come that we are so proud of.
Speaker 3: And that is when he planned his attack to attack
that American way of life.
Speaker 4: The FBI executed a.
Speaker 3: Search warrant at his home and they found the instrumentalities
of the attack. They found hammers and knives hidden under
his bed. They found notes where he planned his attack
and detailed his attack and plans for how.
Speaker 4: He was going to carry out this attack.
Speaker 3: It was a very well planned, thought full attack that
he had planned and that was fortunately foiled.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 3: He was preparing for jihad, and innocent people were going
to die, and we're very, very fortunate they did not.
But the fact that along the way, in this extensive
planning of this attack, he encountered not one, but two
undercover officers should make the public feel very very good
and very safe because law enforcement is out there every
day and we know they have a lot to do,
but they have people out there making sure that as
people plan these terrorist attacks, they have stops so.
Speaker 4: They find it.
Speaker 3: And they did find it here and on Christmas while
we were all opening presents, they were sitting in a
driveway making sure that the public was safe, and we're very,
very appreciative of that. Mister Sortavant was arrested on New
Year's Eve, the day he planned his attack. Of course,
it did not become public today. It has been under
seal until today. He made his initial appearance in federal
court this morning about an hour ago, and this case
is now moving through the judicial process, so he will
have a preliminary hearing after that and a detention hearing,
and of course we will seek that he remained attained,
but that's up to a federal judge on that issue.
He faces a statutory maximum sentence of twenty years. But
as I always tell you, every individual defendant gets a
sentencing hearing where a judge takes into account a host
of factors. Under the United States sentencing guidelines, they look
at that individual defendant, the judge he or she looks
that individual defendant and makes a decision on sentencing, So
we don't know what the ultimate sentence will be here.
Speaker 4: Originally, I think it is notable.
Speaker 3: As part of their efforts, the FBI took mister Sturtivant
to a state magistrate judge to try to have him
involuntarily committed, and that was because he had threatened not
only other people's lives, but in the process said that
he planned to die by a policeman shooting him, so
he had threatened other people's lives and self harm. But
the state magister judge denied involuntary commitment. Fortunately, the FBI
did not give up then and continue to build a
federal case and get the evidence they needed to charge
him and detain him and keep everyone safe on New
Year's Eve. And I'm very very thankful for that, because
countless lives were saved here on New Year's Eve, everyone
is at the grocery store, we're all buying the things
we need to celebrate, and we could have had a significant,
significant loss of life and significant injury here.
Speaker 2: So all right, so let me stop there for a second,
because I think it's important to note here, and I
don't think us Attorney Ferguson is mentioning this lightly, the
fact that he felt it it important to highlight that
they attempted to get an involuntary commitment order against this guy.
And I believe this would be under the newly passed
and you know, it took effect December one, Arena's Law,
right that would allow for the involuntary commitments, although that
element of it hasn't fully been rolled out. Think implementation
of that is next December. But Arena's Law was passed
and you know, took effect on December first. But like,
even though the involuntary commitment stuff has not been formalized
and has not rolled has not been rolled out yet,
the message should have gone out to these magistrates, including
the one in this case, that you know, there is
a new way that you need to be approaching these
types of proceedings, right. You need to kind of get
your head around this idea that if somebody is threatening
the lives of other people and they're talking about engaging
in jihad or whatever, and law enforcement comes in and says,
we need this person involuntarily committed. They are talking about
murdering people and then having themselves get gunned down to
be martyred. And this magistrate says, no, not going to
do it, not going to do it. I don't think
fergus and says this just you know, sort of off
the cuff. This was obviously part of a message he
is attempting to deliver, which is state magistrates are still
doing this. And imagine what would have happened if the
Feds had not pursued it as they did. Right, what
if the Feds did not have enough evidence to get
the probable cause, which they did get. You know, they
got it. They went to a federal magistrate and showed
probable cause to take this guy into custody. But what
if they didn't have all that they had? What if
they were missing something in The federal magistrate says, look,
would love to help you out, but can't do it.
You know, don't have enough evidence collected yet. But there
was a mechanism, there was a mechanism that could have
been used to take this guy off the streets so
he couldn't carry out his plan. And when it came
to the state level, the Mecklenburg County magistrate, what did
we see more of It's the same, this is the problem.
Speaker 1: Well, it's part of the problem.
Speaker 2: There are a lot of problems with our Mechlamberg judicial system,
but I've covered a lot.
Speaker 1: Of the issues.
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before the program began, the US Attorney for the Western
District of North Carolina, Russ Ferguson, called a news conference.
He appeared with the Minhill Police Chief Joe Hatley, as
well as the FBI Special Agent in Charge, Jim Barnacle,
and they announced that an eighteen year old man from
mint Hill had been taken into custody on New Year's Eve.
This was under under seal. It has now been open
and so that's why they held the news conference.
Speaker 1: But they had a rerend.
Speaker 2: Did this individual who had been under twenty four to
seven surveillance for pledging loyalty to ISIS and then planning
a New Year's Eve hammer and knife attack at a
grocery store and fast food place on New Year's Eve?
That was what he was planning to do, is to
just go and murder a bunch of people. They say
he was specifically interested in targeting Jews Christians and LGBT people.
Not sure how you would know automatically if someone is
a Christian or Jewish or LGBT. Not really sure how
that would like what the plan was for the grocery store.
They have not named the stores that he was targeting,
although I suspect they will at some point here in
the upcoming court proceedings, according to the arrest Affid David
the FBI. This according to WSOCTV, the FBI received tips
about Christian stirred events social media posts supporting ISIS on
December eighteenth. One post included an image of miniature figurines
of Jesus with text proclaiming a curse on cross worshippers,
which is consistent with the ISIS rhetoric that advocates violence
against non believers. ISIS, of course, just reiterating what's in
their Holy book. Stirred Event began communicating with an undercover
employee that he thought was an ISIS member that apparently
started about six days prior to the tips that the
FBI received that started on December twelfth, where he stated
quote I will do g had soon. He claimed to
be a soldier of the state, indicating his allegiance.
Speaker 1: To isis the Islamic state.
Speaker 2: Further investigation, and by the way, for people who may
not be aware of this, like in Islam.
Speaker 1: There are two.
Speaker 2: There is a duality that is laid out out in
their holy texts, and it is the the world of Islam.
Speaker 1: And then there is the world of war. And that's it.
Speaker 2: So you are either living under Islam or you are
in the land of war, and the war is necessary
to spread Islam, to conquer the infidels. And if you
die in the process, like this guy said he wanted
to be martyred, then you go to heaven and you
get all of the virgins. It's a win win really
for you. You know, you got now then nothing really
going on in your life. You can you know, murder
and pillage your way across the continents and such. And
if you die in the process, well don't worry.
Speaker 1: You've got riches awaiting you in heaven as well.
Speaker 2: You can see what makes this an attractive philosophy for
for people in the you know, the Middle Ages and such,
the medieval times. So let me go back to the
s story here. Further investigations revealed Sturdevant sent a message
to the undercover employee December fourteenth, showing two hammers and
a knife, which is what they recovered when they searched
his house. He had them hidden under his bed, and
this aligns with a twenty sixteen ISIS propaganda magazine promoting
knife attacks in Western countries, implying a clear intent to
execute violence. On December nineteenth, he sent the undercover employee
a voice recording pledging Bayat which is a loyalty oath
to ISIS, which is when you hear isis IS claiming
credit for this attack. Whatever ISIS claims the credit because
the purse. All you need to do in your attacks
is to say I'm doing this for ISIS, and you
say that and then I IS like, yep, he's one
of us. Following a law enforcement search of his home,
investigators found handwritten documents titled New Year's Attack twenty twenty six,
which planned a well New Year's attack, listing items such
as tactical gloves, of vest and knives intended for use
in an attack aimed at civilians, potentially targeting twenty to
twenty one victims. The note indicated plans to attack police
who would respond to the incident in pursuit of martyrdom.
Items seized included two butcher knives, a blue hammer, and
a wooden handle hammer that were reportedly hidden under his
bed he had back in twenty twenty two. He had
apparently gotten onto the radar of the FBI as well
when he attempted to leave his house dressed all in
black and with some I think a knife or maybe
a hammer, and he was going to go door to
door around the neighborhood murdering his neighbors, and his grandfather
thwarted that plan and stopped him and got law enforcement involved,
which thank you to the family right because without them Now,
apparently the grandparents were not aware of this guy's social
media posts and such. As part of the twenty twenty
two run in with law enforcement, he went in for
psychological counseling, but he was also ordered not to be
on social media, which he obviously ignored, so he violated
the terms of that of that restriction. So here's again
Russ Ferguson, US attorney at the press conference today.
Speaker 3: We will be here at the federal level dedicated to
making sure the public is safe like we were in this case.
And I know that there's a lot that goes on
behind the scenes that's never public for investigative reasons, and
it's very.
Speaker 4: Satisfaction.
Speaker 3: It brings me satisfaction to be able to tell the
public what law enforcement is doing when you don't know it,
and what's going on behind the scenes to keep everyone safe.
So with that, I will turn it over to a
Special Agent Charge Barnacle, who can tell you a little
bit more about the details.
Speaker 5: Thank you, mister Ferguson, and thank you Chief Hartley or
Hatley from the Minhill Police Department for your partnership in
this investigation. My name is James Barnacle. I am the
Special Agent Charge of the FBI. Here in North Carolina,
a Christian start evant pledged his loyalty to ISIS and
committed himself to commit to killing Americans on New Year's Eve.
This investigation unfolded quickly from the moment the FBI was
notified of a potential threat of a terrorist inspired attack
in North Carolina. We went all hands on decked. We
assessed the credibility of the threat. The investigation lasted about
two weeks, included numerous investigative techniques, partnerships with law enforcement agencies,
and cooperation from the American public this Christmas. The FBI
and our partners worked to protect the American people. We
did not let up until Stirred event was safely in handcuffs.
FBI special agents arrested him on December thirty first, as
he has being released from a local medical facility. On
Monday night, as Rush just said, the FBI's Evidence Response
Team conducted a search, an authorized search at his home
and on his cellular phone. What we found was a manifesto,
which the federal complaint alleges contained detailed plans to execute
a massacre on New.
Speaker 6: Year's Eve as people's shop for the holidays.
Speaker 5: Without the swift action of the FBI, joined Terris and
Task Force, New York City Police Department, the mint Hill
Police Department, and our partners at the United States Attorney's
Office for the Western District of North Carolina, we could
be announcing a national train.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's exactly right.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: But for this intensive investigation, and but for the ability
to collect the information necessary to bring this guy in
like this could be a completely different story today. All right,
If you're listening to this show, you know I try
to keep up with all sorts of current events and
I know you do too, and you've probably heard me
say get your news from multiple sources.
Speaker 1: Why.
Speaker 2: Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is
why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an
app and it's a website and it combines news from
around the world in one place so you can compare
coverage and verify information. You can check it out at
check dot ground, dot news slash pete. I put the
link in the podcast description too. I started using ground
News a few months ago and more recently chose to
work with them as an affiliate because it lets me
see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The
blind spot feature shows you which get ignored by the
left and the right. See for yourself check dot ground,
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From the text line, David says, what is the name
of the magistrate who refused the involuntary commitment request? The
magistrate was not named. It's a state level magistrate, so
it's a Mecklenburg County magistrate. But the US attorney federal.
The US Attorney did not name the individual magistrate. Russ
on the text line says, just wondering what didn't ISIS
have required him to have a name change before they
would let him in. Seems like they're letting everybody into
ISIS now. He did actually have a name. He adopted
some Arabic name, some like Abu Bakhar or something. They
mentioned it in the news conference here, which I shall
resume this is again James Barnacle, the Special Agent in
charge of the FBI in the local Charlotte office.
Speaker 6: Instead, a terrorist attack was thwarted.
Speaker 5: Give it a little background on stead of vant, He's
a US citizen. He turned eighteen in December of twenty
twenty five. The JTTF collected evidence showing he turned his
back on his country and his fellow citizens by pledging
allegiance to ISIS with the intent of becoming a martyr.
We allege Sturdivant was willing to sacrifice himself by committing
a terrorist attack using knives and a hammer to support
the murder, torture, and extreme violence that ISIS represents. We
didn't just learn about him a few weeks ago. Stirred
Devant first came to the FBI's radar in January of
twenty twenty two, when he was still a juvenile. He
was in contact via social media with an anoidentified ISIS
member overseas. Stirred Devant received direction from the tsnoidentified ISIS
member to dress in all black, knock on people's doors,
and attack them with a hammer.
Speaker 6: In fact, Sturdivant did dress in all black.
Speaker 5: He left his house with a hammer, and fortunately his
family stepped in sturd Devant. No charges were filed at
that time. He was referred for psychological care and he
underwent psychological care of which I don't know the details.
The FBI was told he no longer had access to
social media. On December eighteenth, a week prior to Christmas,
the Charlotte Field Office learned it wasn't true.
Speaker 6: That he was now back on social media.
Speaker 5: After several FBI offices around this country and the New
York Police Department alerted the Charlotte jttf of as TikTok
account username Abu Barker al Amerkis, who made multiple posts
in support of ISIS. Stirred Evant was identified as the
account holder, and with federal search warrants, the FBI obtained
his previous posts to assess the extent of threats to
the homeland. But according to the complaint, on or about
December twelfth, Skirdivant began communicating with an individual on multiple
social media platforms on b Knowast the stead event he
was talking to a government online covert employee. Within just
a few days, stirred Devant direct message the online covert
employee with a picture of two hammers.
Speaker 6: And a knife.
Speaker 5: The message was significant since in recent years an ISIS
propaganda magazine promoted the use of knives to conduct terrorist
attacks in Western countries. The same ISIS magazine which suggested
using vehicles to ram crowds like the terrorist attack last
year on New Year's Day on Bourbon Street. The conversations
between the undercover employee and Sturdivant escalated further. Stirred event
allegedly sent a voice recording pledging by.
Speaker 6: It a loyalty oath to ISIS, and.
Speaker 5: On December twentieth, the direct messaging alleged at least showed
stirad of Vant asking for help getting firearms, specifically weapons
guns to carry out the terrorist attack at a food
market here in Charlotte area.
Speaker 6: Thankfully that did not occur.
Speaker 5: This investigation was conducted by several FBI field offices, the
FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes the following members,
the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, Matthew's Police Department, the Monroe
Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,
the United States Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Air
Marshal Service, Homeland Security Investigations Internal Revenue Service IRSCI, the
United States Postal Inspection Service, US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Also the NYPD, the FBI New York JTTF, the FBI
Columbia Division, and the min mint Hill Police Department were
instrumental in thwarting this attack, and, of course, alongside our
partners at the US Attorney's Office in the Western District
of New York, I'm sorry, North Carolina, and the Department
of Justice. This investigation highlights the very real threat posed
by people who self radicalize online and are inspired by
jihadas ideologies espoused by far Prayers for organizations. They seek
to attack soft targets with easily accessible weapons and with
little to no warning. To further complicate this threat, we
have seen that most successful attackers radicalize in a time
span of between one and four years, and they typically
mobilize to act in less than three months. The FBI
continues to work tirelessly to combat the threats of terrorism
for the American people every day that our partnerships.
Speaker 6: Are not limited to just law enforcement agencies.
Speaker 5: We rely on the communities we serve and encourage the
public to contact law enforcement when they see or hear
something that doesn't seem right.
Speaker 6: I also have this personal message.
Speaker 5: If your child, relative, friend, or neighbor is sliding into
a dangerous ideology, you'll be the first to see it,
and together we can stop it. The threats we face
are bigger than any one law enforcement or intelligence agency,
requiring everyone who hears this message to work together to
keep people safe. I want to thank our members of
the Joint Terrorism Task Force that sit over here today
for their diligent effort.
Speaker 4: We spoke.
Speaker 5: I can't tell you the number of hours, and this
is not an adaboy to the FBI or our partners.
They worked a NonStop for about fourteen days twenty four
to seven, digging through everything we had and keeping surveillance
on this subject so we could intervene if you were
to potentially attack through Christmas, Christmas Eve, every single day
all weekend. So thank you for your commitment to keep
them America safe. Would that turn it over to mister
Ferguson for any questions you may have.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you and let me reiterate my thanks to
the Joint Terrorism Task Force, to the Mental Police Department,
and the course of the prosecutors in my office who
worked on this. So Jennifer, Yeah, can you clarify where
the plans that had submit Hill, like which worker store.
Speaker 2: And want she's asking which grocery stores we're targeting.
Speaker 3: I don't believe it's public yet, which grocery store and
which fast food restaurant. I can tell you they were
in mint Hill, And as the investigation moves forward, I'm
sure that will come public, but it's not at this point.
Speaker 4: It's it's still under investigation. Sure, of course, did you
say that the arrest.
Speaker 3: Took place after you received medical attention? The arrest took
place after So the FBI went to a state magistrate
judge to try to get him involuntarily committed for medical
attention and it was denied by the state magistrate.
Speaker 1: Thank you, all right, So there you go.
Speaker 2: That's the again, the state magistrate's role in this or
lack of a role in refusing to involuntarily commit this guy,
even though he's got a detailed plan on how to
commit a New Year's Eve massacre in mint Hill, which
was thank fully avoid All right, that'll do it for
this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could
not do the show without your support and the support
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my Patreon page or go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Again,
thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything
while I'm gone.