WASHINGTON — The FBI and Philadelphia law enforcement officials will announce a case this afternoon against a 17-year-old supporter of Islamic extremists who was allegedly radicalized online and was picking out potential targets, a law enforcement official told NBC News.
FBI special agent in charge of the Philadelphia Field Office Jacqueline Maguire and District Attorney Larry Krasner are set to hold a news conference about a terrorism investigation that led to an arrest in West Philadelphia.
The law enforcement official said that the Philadelphia DA’s office will attempt to try the juvenile defendant as an adult, but that the case would not go to federal court due to the suspect’s age. The 17-year-old is from a Muslim family, the official said, but there were no indications that members of his family were involved or aware of the suspect’s alleged plans.
The suspect had been purchasing materials online and selecting potential targets, the official said.
Maguire, at a press conference on Monday afternoon, said that the teenager had access to a “significant” number of firearms and had purchased materials to help with the construction of an improvised explosive device.
He had conducted “general research” into specific targets, but not only in the Philadelphia area, Maguire said.
The suspect, who they declined to name, was in communication with Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad (KTJ), an al-Qa’ida affiliated group designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2022. He was arrested on Friday, they said.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
