A 21-year-old Pennsylvania man accused of plotting a violent attack on behalf of ISIS was arrested after FBI agents tracked him to a hotel and seized a semiautomatic rifle, five magazines and 190 rounds of ammunition, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Jonathan Hunter Kramer, of Valencia, had allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, offered to distribute explosives manuals online and said he was preparing for his “mission” but still needed a weapon before agents moved in, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Kramer is charged with receiving a firearm and ammunition, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe they would be used to commit a felony or federal crime of terrorism, including providing or attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
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The FBI had been aware since a 2023 investigation of Kramer, at the time a minor, when he was charged and adjudicated delinquent in Pennsylvania for his role in a plot to carry out a mass-casualty attack and for possessing child sexual abuse material, according to the Justice Department.
Authorities began investigating him again after an anonymous tip came in on March 19, shortly after his release from a juvenile detention facility. The tipster said Kramer was ordering “mysterious” packages and “talking to his friends from before” his juvenile adjudication.
Investigators said Kramer was using the online name “Hamza Al Rashid,” claiming an affiliation with ISIS and offering to share explosives manuals. He allegedly wrote about preparing for his “mission” and said he was missing a “weapon.”
On Friday, FBI agents watched Kramer leave his home with a bag and take a rideshare to a store, where he bought a disposable phone, according to the complaint.
He then met another person in the parking lot, took a long black bag from the trunk of a vehicle and traveled to a hotel in Cranberry Township, where he paid cash for a room. Witnesses at the store and hotel said the bag made a metallic clicking sound when Kramer put it down.
After checking in, Kramer went to a sporting goods store, where agents saw him at the gun counter.
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Agents approached him when he returned to the hotel carrying two bags from the store. Searches of Kramer, his hotel room and his home turned up a semiautomatic rifle, five rifle magazines — two loaded and three capable of holding 30 rounds each — and 190 rounds of rifle ammunition, according to the complaint.
Agents also found a rifle scope and bipod, an entrenchment tool, pepper spray and about 30 knives. A handwritten note read, “DoNt look For me[.] IDK what I did buT I cant live In constant Fear[.]”
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the arrest came as Americans marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“Their outstanding work thwarted this alleged attack before innocent lives could be lost,” Blanche said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Kramer had been “plotting a violent attack in support of ISIS,” citing his online activity and acquisition of weapons.
The Justice Department did not identify a specific target for the alleged attack.
Kramer was booked into the Butler County Jail and made his first court appearance Monday. Prosecutors have asked that he be held without bond, arguing that he poses a danger to the community.
