For months, the FBI had been investigating a Butler County man who they said had pledged his support to the extremist Islamic State group.<\/p>\n
But on Saturday, officials said, Jonathan Hunter Kramer began ramping up his activity, prompting them to take immediate action.<\/p>\n
Kramer, 21, of Valencia was arrested that day after he was stopped leaving a sporting goods store where he had just purchased rifle magazines and boxes of ammunition. At his hotel room in Cranberry, agents later recovered a semiautomatic rifle, a rifle bipod, a scope, an entrenchment tool, a prayer rug and a cellphone and bag to protect it from sending or receiving signals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you saw Saturday is an individual that, quite frankly, accelerated his mobilization to do an attack,\u201d FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh\u2019s Joint Terrorism Task Force \u201csuccessfully disrupted what we assess to be an imminent threat of violence inspired by ISIS.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials would not say what specific location was allegedly being targeted, but noted that Kramer described methods of mass casualty attacks, including targeting schools, nightclubs, theaters, concerts, apartment buildings and synagogues.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me be clear about this threat,\u201d Evanchec continued. \u201cJonathan Kramer demonstrated a sustained devotion to the Islamic State of Syria. He recorded a pledge of allegiance to the same. Following that pledge, he made efforts to spread their propaganda and shared ways to kill, all in the name of a foreign terrorist organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a Justice Department news release, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said Kramer appeared to be preparing for a mass shooting, having secured a rifle and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis apparent ISIS inspiration and escalation toward violence show how close this country came to a devastating attack,\u201d Eisenberg said. \u201cThis arrest prevented what could have been a horrific tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kramer is being represented by the federal public defender\u2019s office, which declined comment Monday night.<\/p>\n
He is a 2023 graduate of Mars Area High School, the district confirmed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Kramer had been previously adjudicated delinquent on state charges including possession of child sexual abuse material and \u201chis role in a plot to commit a mass casualty incident\u201d in 2023, according to the federal criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said he could not discuss the details of that case and noted that, generally, juvenile court records are open to the public only when a defendant is 15 or older and charged with a felony.<\/p>\n
According to the federal complaint, Kramer was held in a juvenile facility in Oil City until March when he was released.<\/p>\n
Within days, the FBI received an online, anonymous tip about Kramer\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n
According to the tip, Kramer was \u201cordering \u2018mysterious\u2019 packages, and his parents do not check because Kramer \u2018needs privacy,\u2019\u201d a federal criminal complaint said.<\/p>\n
The tip also relayed that Kramer got a cellphone and that he was \u201c\u2018talking to his friends from before,\u2019 when he was charged in Pennsylvania with \u2018terrorism, threats to use a weapon of mass destruction and terrorist threats.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
At a news conference Tuesday in the federal courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh, U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti urged the public to remain alert, noting that a single tip can make a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that this prosecution serves as a stark reminder to everyone of the importance of vigilance, the need for all of us to work together to keep our district and our nation safe,\u201d Rivetti said. \u201cBy reporting to law enforcement when you see or hear what appears to be criminal, threatening and dangerous, you help us in our mission, and our primary mission is public safety and public health.<\/p>\n
\u201cViolence prevention is the touchstone of all we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivetti also said that the law enforcement officials working on Kramer\u2019s case over the weekend were well aware that the nation had just marked the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and that the Jewish community was celebrating Rosh Hashanah, which marks the Jewish New Year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was top of mind to everyone,\u201d Rivetti said.<\/p>\n
Evanchec agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case is therefore a stark reminder that even a quarter of a century later, law enforcement continues to confront a dynamic, persistent and evolving terrorism threat landscape,\u201d Evanchec said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never forget that it was here, outside Pittsburgh, where the passengers and crew of Flight 93 chose to make their stand, and their sacrifice continues to remind us that the fight against terrorism is both personal and profoundly tied to this region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kramer is scheduled for a hearing in federal court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For months, the FBI had been investigating a Butler County man who they said had pledged his support…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-286827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}