Idaho Man Pleads Guilty to Charges Related to Thwarted Terror Attack

An Idaho man pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempting to provide support and resources to the ISIS terrorist group, prosecutors announced.

Alexander Scott Mercurio, 20, of Coeur d’Alene, was arrested in April 2024, one day before authorities say he planned to carry out an ISIS-inspired suicide attack on local churches using flamethrowers, explosives, knives, a machete, a pipe, and guns.

“Days before the planned attack, Mercurio stood before an ISIS flag holding a knife and pledged his allegiance to ISIS,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Idaho stated Wednesday.

According to court records, Mercurio purchased butane canisters and a metal pipe for his planned attack.

The FBI conducted an investigation into Mercurio and prevented the attack. Investigators believed his plans intensified after a faction of ISIS claimed responsibility for a massacre of over 130 people at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow on March 22, 2024.

His planned attack date was selected to happen before the end of Ramadan, according to FBI joint terrorism task force officer John Taylor’s statement in the affidavit.

In early 2023, prosecutors say he created an online repository for pro-ISIS content with the purpose of spreading ISIS’s doctrine.

Mercurio was an online student at a local school when he adopted the Muslim faith against his Christian parents’ wishes, authorities reported.

According to court documents, the FBI started looking into Mercurio after he reached out to an FBI source and met with the source in person to express his support for terrorist organizations, specifically ISIS.

Mercurio tried to get ISIS’s approval for his attack plans and asked the terrorist organization to join him in his efforts, according to the FBI.

He also discussed traveling from the United States to join ISIS, and planned ways to support the terror organization with money, the FBI reported.

Investigators also allege Mercurio initiated a plan to assault his father with a metal pipe to get his firearms for the church attacks.

“Law enforcement thwarted Mercurio’s plans before … he could harm his father and acquire firearms,” Taylor wrote in the affidavit.

Authorities recovered butane canisters, lighters, a pair of handcuffs, a knife, a pipe, and a machete when searching Mercurio’s house. They also found an ISIS flag in his bedroom, according to the affidavit.

Mercurio pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. A sentencing hearing is set for Jan. 27, 2026, in district court.

He faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison.

Mercurio was represented by the North Federal Public Defender’s office, which generally doesn’t comment on their clients’ cases, a representative told The Epoch Times Friday.

Mercurio’s plans were similar to an attack at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Michigan on Sept. 28. In that incident, a gunman killed four people and injured eight after opening fire inside the church before setting it ablaze.

The suspect, Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, died at the scene. According to authorities, Sanford drove a vehicle through the front doors of the church before getting out and firing several rounds. He was suspected of using gasoline to start the fire.

In another case in New York, Awais Chudhary, 25, of Queens, pleaded guilty in 2022 to the same charges as Mercurio’s—attempting to provide support to ISIS. Chudhary also allegedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS’s leader and began planning for a knife or bomb attack on behalf of the group, according to federal prosecutors.

Chudhary was sentenced to nine years in prison and 15 years of supervised release in September.