{"id":2216931,"date":"2024-04-09T20:30:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T00:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/idaho-teen-arrested-for-allegedly-planning-attacks-on-christian-churches-on-behalf-of-isis\/"},"modified":"2024-04-09T20:33:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T00:33:53","slug":"idaho-teen-arrested-for-allegedly-planning-attacks-on-christian-churches-on-behalf-of-isis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/idaho-teen-arrested-for-allegedly-planning-attacks-on-christian-churches-on-behalf-of-isis\/","title":{"rendered":"Idaho teen arrested for allegedly plotting attacks on Christian churches for ISIS"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fidaho-teen-arrested-for-allegedly-planning-attacks-on-christian-churches-on-behalf-of-isis%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2216931&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>An Idaho teenager, Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, \u2062was arrested for planning a \u200c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/flashback-former-ag-barr-initiated-spying-program-on-americans-back-in-1992\/\" title=\"FLASHBACK: Former AG Barr Initiated Spying Program on Americans Back in 1992\">terrorist attack<\/a> on Christian churches for ISIS. The FBI discovered his plans during a\u200b criminal investigation into\u200d a cryptocurrency-funded terrorist \u2063network. Evidence \u2062found on \u200chis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joe-biden-allegedly-interacted-with-sons-clients-more-than-200-times\/\" title=\"Joe Biden reportedly had over 200 interactions with his son's clients.\">laptop\u200b revealed<\/a> his \u200ddedication to ISIS, socialism,\u2062 and communism. Mercurio expressed\u2062 intentions to attack churches with various weapons and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-removed-from-presidential-ballot-in-maine\/\" title=\"Trump disqualified from Maine presidential ballot\">pledged\u2062 allegiance<\/a> to ISIS.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p>A teenager in Idaho was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/idaho-man-arrested-attempting-provide-material-support-isis\">arrested over the weekend<\/a> for allegedly planning to carry out a terrorist attack on Christian churches on behalf of ISIS.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u201cflame-covered weapons, explosives, knives, a machete, a pipe, and ultimately firearms,\u201d court documents say.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI stumbled upon Mercurio in 2021 while conducting a criminal investigation into a fundraising network that uses cryptocurrency to fund Islamic terrorist groups.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u201csocialism\u201d and \u201ccommunism,\u201d court documents say.<\/p>\n<p>He told a confidential FBI informant that in his video pledging allegiance to ISIS, he would state that it was important to \u201crespond to the call to the caliphate by killing Jews and Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He indicated that he planned to \u201cwalk to the church, pull out the pipe to light it on fire on one end, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/7-ways-democrats-would-raise-taxes-on-people-making-less-than-400000\/\" title=\"7 Ways Democrats Would Raise Taxes On People Making Less Than 0,000\">hit people<\/a> in the elbows and kneecaps, force them to the ground, slit their throats with a knife or machete, start small fires, use gas cans to throw at the small fires to cause an explosion and when the police respond he will hide in a corner and attempt to grab the gun of an officer to use,\u201d court documents said, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahostatesman.com\/news\/local\/crime\/article287515725.html\">according<\/a> to the Idaho Statesmen.<\/p>\n<p>He allegedly believed that by murdering Christians, he was performing \u201ca good deed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1700760801843000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs alleged in the complaint, the defendant swore an oath of loyalty to ISIS and planned to wage an attack in its name on churches in Coeur d\u2019Alene, Idaho,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/idaho-man-arrested-attempting-provide-material-support-isis\">said<\/a> Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. \u201cThanks to the investigative efforts of the FBI, the defendant was taken into custody before he could act, and he is now charged with attempting to support ISIS\u2019s mission of terror and violence. The Justice Department will continue to relentlessly pursue, disrupt, and hold accountable those who would commit acts of terrorism against the people and interests of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe defendant allegedly pledged loyalty to ISIS and sought to attack people attending churches in Idaho, a truly horrific plan which was detected and thwarted by the FBI\u2019s Joint Terrorism Task Force,\u201d said FBI Director Christopher Wray. \u201cThis investigation demonstrates the FBI\u2019s steadfast commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to stop those who wish to commit acts of violence on behalf of \u2013 or inspired by \u2013 foreign terrorist groups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Idaho teenager, Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, was arrested for planning a terrorist attack on Christian churches for ISIS. Federal officials detained him after he pledged allegiance to the group and intended to use flame-covered weapons and explosives on April 7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":2216932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/07\/ISIS-scaled-e1659146758621.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2216931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/07\/ISIS-scaled-e1659146758621.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2216931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2216932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}