“Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was arrested Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Coeur d’Alene for attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS. According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Mercurio pledged his allegiance to ISIS and intended to commit attacks on its behalf. He planned to attack individuals at churches in Coeur d’Alene on April 7 using weapons, including knives, firearms, and fire. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) conducted the investigation and thwarted Mercurio’s violent plot. Mercurio is currently in custody awaiting his initial appearance which will be set by the Court. ‘As 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’Alene, Idaho,’ said Attorney General Merrick Garland. ‘Thanks 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’s mission of terror and violence.’ If convicted, Mercurio faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison,” says a Justice Department press release.

Well ain’t that something? You’d think an angry 18 year-old in northern Idaho who plans a mass shooting would be hardcore MAGA, not ISIS. Must be kind of a loner who gravitated away from the violent white nationalist extremism of his peers and into violent Islamic extremism. All the cool kids were goose-stepping to Patriot Front marching cadence and talking to each other about how to build deadly pipe bombs while he was by himself researching how to build deadly pipe bombs.