Pennsylvania Man Charged After FBI Says It Stopped Alleged ISIS-Inspired Mass-Casualty Plot

Federal prosecutors announce one firearms charge

PITTSBURGH — Federal prosecutors charged 21-year-old Jonathan Hunter Kramer of Valencia, Pennsylvania, after FBI agents intercepted him over the weekend and seized a semiautomatic rifle, magazines and ammunition, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

The criminal complaint charges Kramer under 18 U.S.C. § 924(h) with receiving a firearm or ammunition while knowing or having reasonable cause to believe it would be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism. He has not been convicted, and the complaint does not itself establish that an attack was imminent or that he acted on behalf of ISIS.

Kramer made an initial court appearance Monday. CBS Pittsburgh reports that he waived a detention hearing and requested a preliminary examination scheduled for Wednesday. The reviewed sources do not report a plea, indictment or trial date.

What agents say they saw before the arrest

According to the affidavit summarized by DOJ, Kramer left his home September 12 carrying a bag, traveled by rideshare to a retail store, bought a disposable phone and then received a long black bag from another person in a parking lot. He later paid cash for a room at a hotel in Cranberry Township and visited a sporting-goods store.

Agents approached Kramer when he returned to the hotel carrying shopping bags. DOJ says federal search warrants were then executed on his person, hotel room and residence.

The government alleges that Kramer used the online name “Hamza Al Rashid,” claimed an ISIS affiliation, offered to share explosives manuals and wrote that he was preparing for a “mission” but lacked a weapon. Those statements are allegations attributed to the affidavit; their meaning and context have not been tested in court.

Rifle, ammunition and other items were seized

DOJ says agents seized a semiautomatic rifle, five rifle magazines, a scope, bipod and 190 rounds of rifle ammunition. The agency also listed an entrenchment tool, pepper spray, a prayer rug, approximately 30 knives and a handwritten note among the recovered items.

Possession of an ordinary object, religious item or lawful tool does not by itself prove criminal intent. Prosecutors must establish the charged elements with admissible evidence, and Kramer is entitled to challenge the searches, the government's interpretation of his communications and every factual allegation.

Officials described the intervention as preventing a possible mass shooting. They did not identify a specific target, planned date, victim group, attack location or accomplice in Tuesday's public announcement. Claims about any undisclosed target would be speculation.

A 2023 juvenile case and a March tip preceded the investigation

The Justice Department says Kramer was adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile in Pennsylvania in 2023 for involvement in an earlier mass-casualty plot and possession of child sexual abuse material. Juvenile adjudication records are handled differently from adult convictions, and the current federal charge must be judged on its own evidence.

DOJ says the renewed investigation began after an anonymous online tip on March 19, following Kramer's release from a juvenile detention facility. Investigators say the tip described mysterious packages and renewed contact with people known before the earlier adjudication.

An anonymous tip can start an investigation, but it is not proof. The government's case will depend on evidence gathered afterward and on whether that evidence withstands judicial review.

What is confirmed — and what remains alleged

Confirmed by the public court record: a federal complaint was signed September 13 in the Western District of Pennsylvania, Kramer appeared in court September 14 and the Justice Department publicly announced the case September 15.

Alleged by prosecutors: Kramer intended the firearm and ammunition to support a terrorism offense, adopted an ISIS-linked persona and was preparing a mass-casualty attack. No jury or judge has decided those claims.

No attack occurred. No casualties were reported, and the government has not announced that a specific school, house of worship, public event or community was targeted. Readers should not circulate names of supposed targets or associates without attributable evidence.

About the image

The accompanying image is an authentic May 2005 photograph of the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C. Ed Brown released it into the public domain through Wikimedia Commons.

The photograph provides institutional context for the Justice Department announcement. It does not show Kramer, FBI Pittsburgh, Cranberry Township, the hotel, the seized items or any alleged plot, and its use does not imply endorsement by the photographer, DOJ or Wikimedia Commons.