On New Year’s Day 2025, America woke up to horrible news.
There had been a terrorist attack in the early morning hours in New Orleans, one of the most iconic cities in the United States.
Fourteen people out celebrating the 2025 New Year’s holiday were murdered, with the youngest victims being 18 and the oldest being 63. Nearly 60 more were injured. The perpetrator was an apparent ISIS convert named Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, who used a pickup truck as a battering ram, driving it through the revelers with the intent to kill before he ultimately met his fate at the hands of New Orleans police officers.
Jabbar, who the FBI believes was a lone wolf, planned on doing even more damage on his way to his planned martyrdom, with two IEDs found planted near the scene of the truck attacks. According to ABC News, the New Orleans ATF field office said the devices ultimately “failed to go off either because Jabbar was shot to death by police, or because he used the wrong mechanism to detonate the explosives.”
One year later, another New Year’s Day attack was allegedly planned, but this time, the target was Mint Hill, North Carolina.
Last Friday, authorities announced the planned attack had been thwarted and the suspect was in custody.
“The subject was directly inspired to act by ISIS,” a tweet on X from the FBI’s Charlotte division read. “A federal criminal complaint alleges 18-year-old Christian Sturdivant planned a violent attack at a grocery store in Mint Hill.” Sturdivant also allegedly planned to attack a Mint Hill Burger King location.
The Department of Justice shared more details in their announcement.
“In early December 2025, Sturdivant posted an image depicting two miniature figurines of Jesus with the on-screen text that read, ‘May Allah curse the cross worshipers,’” they noted. “The post is allegedly consistent with ISIS’s rhetoric calling for the extermination of all non-believers, including Christians, Jews, and Muslims who do not agree with ISIS’s extreme ideology.”
Sturdivant, who authorities believe acted alone, was also said to be communicating with “an online covert employee” whom he believed was part of ISIS.
Just days before the attack was allegedly going to be carried out, a search of his home was conducted by law enforcement. They found, among other things, a document labeled “New Years Attack 2026.”
Included on that list were things Sturdivant allegedly planned to use during the attack: “a vest, mask, tactical gloves, and two knives allegedly to be used in the attack.” His goal reportedly was to injure as many as 21 people with knives and hammers, becoming a martyr in the process in what he presumably figured would be a shootout with police.
Mint Hill is a small community on the outskirts of Charlotte with about 27,000 residents, according to the 2020 census. Many young families and retirees reside in this close-knit area, which also has several churches. It is the epitome of small-town America.
The Burger King that Sturdivant allegedly planned to attack was just steps away from a walk-up ice cream parlor that has outside seating. It is also within walking distance of the Town of Mint Hill Police Department, grocery stores, restaurants, and a mixture of old and new neighborhoods, all of which are often bustling with activity on any given day.
Thank God the attack was thwarted in time. But news of what was found provided an important reminder all the same: No place in America is immune from such attacks or threats, whether they be large, well-known touristy cities like New Orleans or small towns like Mint Hill.
