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North Carolina Terror Defendant Charged with Murder

A North Carolina man charged with trying to aid ISIS last June and wanting to carry out attacks in the U.S. has now been charged with murder.
The FBI arrested Justin Nojan Sullivan for allegedly attempting to provide support to ISIS.
The FBI arrested Justin Nojan Sullivan for allegedly attempting to provide support to ISIS.Department of Justice

A North Carolina man charged last June with attempting to provide material support to ISIS and wanting to carry out attacks in the U.S. has now been charged with murder.

Justin Nojan Sullivan, age 19, of Morganton, North Carolina, was accused last year of talking about plans to kill people in the US, conversing with someone he thought was like-minded — and whom he tried to recruit — but who turned out to be working undercover for the FBI.

The FBI arrested Justin Nojan Sullivan for allegedly attempting to provide support to ISIS.
The FBI arrested Justin Nojan Sullivan for allegedly attempting to provide support to ISIS.Department of Justice

Sullivan now faces unrelated murder charges, according to court documents made public Monday. Prosecutors say he killed a 74-year-old neighbor, John Bailey Clark, using a rifle Sullivan took from his father's gun cabinet.

Investigators say rounds fired from the rifle match those used in the murder.

Court documents say Sullivan asked the undercover operative to build a silencer, using instructions found on the Internet. Prosecutors say when it was delivered, his mother opened the package but that Sullivan took it and hid it in a crawl space under the family's house.

When his parents asked him about the silencer, prosecutors say, he offered to pay the undercover operative to kill them.

Investigators say Sullivan wanted to shoot people at a bar, club, or concert and claimed he could kill as many as 1,000 people using an assault rifle and a silencer. He did not acquire an assault rifle before he was arrested.

A senior federal official said Monday that investigators have found no link between the murder of the neighbor and the plans to carry out terrorist attacks.