Eighteen-year-old Alexander Scott Mercurio planned to execute an attack on American soil in the name of ISIS. He was arrested Saturday and charged in the federal district of Idaho court with providing support to a terrorist organization.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Mercurio did not have an attorney listed in the federal court system. He remained in the Kootenai County jail in Coeur d’Alene. He was just a few days away from executing an attack on churchgoers in the name of ISIS.
His planning took months. According to court documents, he explained his plan to a man in a hotel. That man turned out to be an FBI informant.
He planned to walk to a church from his home in Coeur d’Alene, kneecap churchgoers with a metal pipe, kill them with a knife, set off fires using small butane canisters, and then try to wrestle a gun away from a police officer when police arrived on the scene.
His…
