CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The FBI announced Friday that it had thwarted a planned attack on a grocery store and fast-food restaurant in North Carolina, set for New Year’s Eve. The suspect, who officials say was motivated by the Islamic State group, was arrested after allegedly pledging allegiance to the extremist faction.

Eighteen-year-old Christian Sturdivant faces charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. According to authorities, Sturdivant disclosed his attack intentions to an undercover FBI agent, who he believed was a supportive ally.

Sturdivant was apprehended by federal agents on Wednesday and remains in custody after appearing in court on Friday morning. A follow-up hearing is scheduled for January 7. Sturdivant’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The investigation into Sturdivant began last month when authorities linked a social media account to him that expressed support for IS. The FBI affidavit details that the account featured posts advocating violence, including images of a ballistic vest, and used a display name referencing the deceased IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

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Sturdivant began communicating on social media with someone who he thought was supportive of his plans but who was actually an undercover FBI employee, the affidavit said.

Russ Ferguson, the U.S. Attorney for western North Carolina, declined to name the grocery store and fast-food restaurant that were allegedly targeted, citing the ongoing investigation. But he said both were in Mint Hill, a small bedroom community of Charlotte.

The affidavit says Sturdivant had been on the FBI’s radar in January 2022, when he was a minor, after officials learned that he had been in contact with an IS member in Europe and had received instructions to dress in all black, knock on people’s doors and commit attacks with a hammer.

Sturdivant did actually set out for a neighbor’s house armed with a hammer and a knife but was restrained by his grandfather, the affidavit says.

The North Carolina attack would’ve come a year after 14 people were killed in New Orleans by a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who had proclaimed his support for IS on social media.

Other IS-inspired attacks over the past decade include a 2015 shooting rampage by a husband-and-wife team who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, and a 2016 massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a gunman who fatally shot 49 people.

The FBI has foiled several alleged attacks through sting operations in which agents posed as terror supporters, supplying advice and equipment. Critics say the strategy can amount to entrapment of mentally vulnerable people who wouldn’t have the wherewithal to act alone.

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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.