A Pennsylvania man who had previously been adjudicated delinquent in a mass-casualty plot was arrested after FBI agents tracked him to a hotel room stocked with a semiautomatic rifle, loaded magazines and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Jonathan Hunter Kramer, 21, of Valencia, Pennsylvania, now faces a federal terrorism charge accusing him of receiving a firearm and ammunition knowing they would be used to commit a crime of terrorism, including material support to ISIS.
The FBI’s interest in Kramer dated back to 2023, when he was a minor and 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. He had recently been released from a juvenile detention facility when an anonymous tip on March 19 set off the new investigation.
The tipster told authorities that Kramer was ordering “mysterious” packages and “talking to his friends from before” his juvenile adjudication, according to the federal criminal complaint. Investigators said Kramer was operating online under the name “Hamza Al Rashid,” claiming affiliation with ISIS and offering to distribute explosives manuals to others.
He allegedly wrote about preparing for his “mission” and noted that he was still missing a “weapon.”
On Friday, FBI surveillance teams watched Kramer leave his home carrying a bag and take a rideshare to a store, where he purchased a disposable phone, according to the complaint. He then met another individual in the parking lot, retrieved 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 both the store and the hotel told investigators that the bag made a metallic clicking sound when Kramer set it down.
After checking in, Kramer visited a sporting goods store, where agents observed him at the gun counter. When he returned to the hotel carrying two bags from that store, agents moved in to arrest him.
Searches of Kramer, his hotel room and his home revealed a semiautomatic rifle, five rifle magazines — two of them loaded and three capable of holding 30 rounds each — and 190 rounds of rifle ammunition, according to the complaint. Agents also recovered a rifle scope and bipod, an entrenchment tool, pepper spray and approximately 30 knives.
A handwritten note found among his belongings read, “DoNt look For me[.] IDK what I did buT I cant live In constant Fear[.]”
Attorney General Todd Blanche tied the arrest’s timing to the 25th anniversary of the September 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,” pointing to his online activity and weapons acquisition as evidence of his intent.
The Justice Department did not identify any specific target for the alleged attack. Prosecutors have requested that Kramer be held without bond, arguing that he poses a danger to the community.
Kramer was booked into the Butler County Jail and made his first court appearance Monday.