Associated Press
BOSTON — Federal prosecutors have arrested the son of a Boston police captain, from Adams, in a plot to commit terrorist acts on behalf of the Islamic State group.
Alexander Ciccolo is accused in a criminal complaint unsealed Monday of receiving four guns July 4 from a person cooperating with the Western Massachusetts Joint Terrorism Task Force. Ciccolo was taken to the Franklin County Jail for processing after his arrest on July 4. During that processing, he stabbed a nurse with a pen in the head, puncturing her skin, according to an FBI affidavit about the investigation.
An FBI affidavit says the 23-year-old man, who they said used the name Abu Ali al Amriki on Facebook, had talked with the cooperating witness in recorded conversations about his plans to commit acts inspired by the Islamic State group, including setting off pressure-cooker bombs at an unidentified university. According to the affidavit, he said the attack would include executions of students broadcast live online.
Before his arrest, agents had observed Ciccolo buying a pressure cooker at the North Adams Walmart similar to those used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and he took delivery of multiple firearms, according to the FBI affidavit.