FBI: Butler County man arrested before he could carry out terrorist attack
The FBI said it followed a trail of clandestine internet activity stretching back years to catch up with a Butler County man just before officials say he intended to carry out an armed attack in the name of ISIS.
The investigation culminated Saturday, Sept. 12, with the arrest of Jonathan Hunter Kramer, 21, of Valencia. He was arrested in the parking lot of a Cranberry Township hotel on a charge of obtaining a firearm or ammunition to commit a felony or crime of terrorism after he bought three high-capacity rifle magazines and 130 rounds of ammunition from a sporting goods store, according to the FBI.
In a hotel room Kramer rented using cash for a weeklong stay, the FBI reported finding a semiautomatic rifle he surreptitiously obtained earlier that day, two loaded rifle magazines, a rifle bipod, a rifle scope, an entrenchment tool, a prayer rug, pepper spray and a cellphone within two bags designed to protect electronic devices from electromagnetic interference.
According to a 30-page affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh by an FBI special agent, on March 19, the FBI said it received a tip saying Kramer was released a week ago and had unlimited and unmonitored internet access and a cellphone. The tip said Kramer was talking to the friends he had when he was charged with the firearms violation and was ordering and receiving numerous packages.
In May, the FBI tracked and linked Kramer’s Reddit internet accounts, and alternates, to his email accounts.
A May 12 video posted from the alternate account shows Hamas propaganda depicting armed fighters and supporters with overlaid text saying, “STOP WATCHING HARAM PALESTINE NEEDS YOU,” according to the affidavit.
Another video posted that day from the same alternate account includes video game characters depicting ISIS fighters with overlaid texts saying, “FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH, We will March to the gates, TO THE PARADISE WHERE OUR MAIDENS AWAIT, WE ARE MEN THAT LOVE DEATH, JUST AS YOU LOV YOUR LIFE, WE ARE THE SOLDIERS THAT FIGHT IN THE DAY AND THE NIGHT.”
The FBI said it tracked an Amazon account linked to Kramer and found pepper spray and a 5-inch fixed blade were purchased on separate days.
A private internet security firm provided the FBI with a private internet messaging site account and its users name “Hamza Al Rashid.” The special agent said he believes Kramer is the creator and user of the Hamza Al Rashid account.
The firm sent the FBI a message Hamza Al Rashid posted in May saying, “i am going to work on a file including ways to wage war against the kuffar with relative ease, anonymity. for now here is an improvised napalm type Molotov recipe. fire is a good way of destroying many kuffars properties and land as well as their lives. make sure if using this to always remain anonymous and with your face and hands covered.”
That post contains suggestions and tips for jihad attacks against “kuffar” using firearms, air guns, bombs, semi trucks, poison, fire and drones and a recommendation to lure emergency responders away from the target by making false emergency calls using “burner” cellphones.
His writings include escape plans and encourages “brothers” to take video recordings of their attacks because “It would potentially help others with ideas on what to do, and show the Islamic state has not been slowed down by the kuffars constant attacks,” according to the affidavit.
The post suggests using fire in enclosed places such as nightclubs, theaters, concerts and apartment buildings/hotels and schools with low security; and the use of poisons, such as cyanide, ricin and abrin.
The post talks about carjacking a semi truck from a truck stop and welding armor, knives, spikes and rams to it and the use of firearms, air rifles, smoke bombs and pepper grenades.
An undercover FBI agent began communicating with Hamza Al Rashid through private messaging June 29. Hamza Al Rashid told the agent he wanted to buy two guns but couldn’t because “I am restricted by felony” and gave the agent details about his planned attack, including locations and areas with “choke points,” such as a “building with many corridors using smoke grenades,” according to the affidavit.
The FBI conducted physical surveillance of Kramer July 16 and 17. The agent said Kramer was driven to and from work on those days.
Kramer used his online account to communicate with a firm that provides a venue for individuals to buy and sell firearms privately, without a background check to contact seven people about buying guns, according to the affidavit.
The tracking, messaging and surveillance led to Kramer’s arrest Sept. 12.
Just after 10 a.m., FBI agents saw Kramer quickly depart his residence while carrying a backpack and enter a white SUV driven by an Uber driver. Kramer was driven to the Walmart in Gibsonia. He entered with a bag and asked an employee to watch his bag as he shopped. The employee told the FBI they heard a metallic clunking sound when Kramer placed the bag on a counter.
Kramer bought a disposable cellular phone and minutes to use the phone.
Law enforcement had an emergency ping on Kramer’s known cellular phone through Verizon. However, that phone was no longer responding to the Verizon network. The special agent said he believes Kramer deactivated his phone to mask his movements.
After leaving the store, closed circuit TV footage showed Kramer meeting someone in the parking lot and obtaining what appeared to be a long black bag that could accommodate a rifle from the trunk of the person’s vehicle, according to the affidavit.
Kramer then took an Uber to the Cranberry Park Hotel on Route 19 in Cranberry Township and checked in, paying $450 in cash to stay for a week. He went to the firearms counter at Dunham’s Sports and then returned to the hotel, where FBI agents approached him in the parking lot.
He agreed to talk to the agents who then executed search warrants on him and his hotel room. According to the affidavit, in the bags from Dunham’s, agents seized three, 30-round rifle magazines and five boxes of 5.56 caliber ammunition, which contained a total of 130 rounds.
Agents also executed a search warrant on Kramer’s home the same day. From his room, agents seized about 30 knives and an undated note that read: “DoNt look For me[.] IDK what I did buT I cant live In constant Fear[.],” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit in the case includes information on Kramer’s background.
It begins with his adjudication as a juvenile delinquent in 2023 on child sexual abuse materials and firearms charges filed by state authorities. The firearms charge was related to his role in a plot to commit a mass casualty incident, according to the affidavit.
After receiving an anonymous tip that someone was posting threatening statements about an unspecified act to occur within three months — as well as documents on how to make explosives, C4, and car bombs — the FBI tracked the online account to Kramer.
An agent searched the account and found Kramer asked a 14-year-old in Germany to send him child sexual abuse material. The juvenile sent multiple video and image files of child sexual abuse materials, according to the affidavit.
He was committed to Pathways Adolescent Center, a group home and school for delinquent and dependent youth ages 9-21 in Oil City, in September 2023. He was released in March at age 20.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia L. Dodge has appointed a federal public defender to represent Kramer.
A preliminary examination into the affidavit requested by Kramer is scheduled for Wednesday before Dodge.
