A teenager in Idaho was arrested over the weekend for allegedly planning to carry out a terrorist attack on Christian churches on behalf of ISIS.
Federal law enforcement officials arrested Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, on Saturday after he pledged allegiance to ISIS and planned to attack Christian churches on April 7 using “flame-covered weapons, explosives, knives, a machete, a pipe, and ultimately firearms,” court documents say.
The FBI stumbled upon Mercurio in 2021 while conducting a criminal investigation into a fundraising network that uses cryptocurrency to fund Islamic terrorist groups.
In 2023, investigators found on his school-issued laptop numerous pieces of evidence that showed he was serious about his commitment to ISIS as well as his interest in “socialism” and “communism,” court documents say.
He told a confidential FBI informant that in his video pledging…
