21-year-old Pennsylvania man arrested in alleged ISIS-inspired firearm plot: DOJ
FBI Director Kash Patel said the suspect was plotting “a violent attack."
A 21-year-old man is accused of receiving a firearm and ammunition in support of ISIS, according to the Justice Department.
Jonathan Hunter Kramer, 21, of Valencia, Pennsylvania, had allegedly been going by the name “Hamza Al Rashid” and allegedly claimed affiliation with ISIS, offered to share explosive manuals with others and expressed his intent to prepare for his “mission” and that he was just missing a “weapon,” according to the DOJ's federal criminal complaint.
Kramer had allegedly been on the FBI’s radar since 2023, when he was charged and adjudicated delinquent by Pennsylvania state authorities for an alleged role in a plot to commit a mass casualty incident and for allegedly possessing child sexual abuse material, according to the Justice Department.
A tipster recently contacted the FBI to share concerns about Kramer, according to the Justice Department, which outlined the alleged conduct in court papers unsealed Tuesday.
FBI agents saw Kramer on Sept. 12 get into a rideshare and take it to purchase a disposable phone to meet another individual with a long black bag, according to the DOJ. He then allegedly went to a hotel and paid cash for a room, according to the DOJ.
He then allegedly went to a sporting goods store and was spotted at the gun counter, where FBI agents met him outside in the parking lot, according to the court records.
They executed a search warrant and allegedly found, both on his person and in his hotel room, a semiautomatic rifle, five rifle magazines (two and the other three each offering a 30-round capacity), a rifle bipod and scope, a total of 190 rounds of rifle ammunition, an entrenchment tool, a prayer rug, pepper spray and approximately 30 knives, along with a handwritten note stating “DoNt look For me[.] IDK what I did buT I cant live In constant Fear[.].”
Attorney General Todd Blanche said that while Americans observed the 25th anniversary of 9/11, law enforcement was thwarting an attack.
“Their outstanding work thwarted this alleged attack before innocent lives could be lost,” Blanche said in a statement. “The Department of Justice will relentlessly pursue anyone who seeks to terrorize the American people and bring them to justice.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said the suspect was plotting “a violent attack in support of ISIS – engaging with ISIS propaganda online, building attack concepts, and repeatedly expressing extremist rhetoric – all while acquiring weapons believed to be in preparation of the attack."
