FBI Thwarts Alleged ISIS-Inspired New Year’s Eve Attack on North Carolina Grocery Store

The Tip That Started It All

Just after Thanksgiving, a worried voice crackled across the FBI tip line: a 27-year-old man from Hickory, North Carolina, was pledging allegiance to ISIS online and hinting at a bloody countdown to New Year’s Eve.

48 Hours of Surveillance

Agents moved fast. Within two days they had a name—Alexander Samuel Tanas—and a trail of encrypted messages in which he allegedly vowed to "turn a grocery store into a battlefield." Court documents show undercover operatives supplied him with inert explosives and a disabled rifle; when Tanas allegedly tried to detonate the fake device in the early hours of December 30, agents swarmed the parking lot of a local Food Lion and arrested him without incident.

Inside the Criminal Complaint

• Charge: attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
• Potential sentence: up to 20 years in federal prison.
• Evidence: 43 pages of chat logs, surveillance video, and recorded phone calls.

"We believe we intercepted a self-directed attack that would have unfolded while families were stocking up for holiday celebrations," said Robert Kiss, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Charlotte field office.

A Community on Edge, Then Relief

By sunset the same day, yellow crime-scene tape was gone and shoppers returned for last-minute groceries. Still, the arrest revived uneasy memories of the 2015 San Bernardino shooting and the 2019 Jersey City attack—both cited by Tanas in his online posts, according to prosecutors.

What Comes Next

Tanas will remain in custody pending a January detention hearing. Congressional leaders have already called for a review of how lone extremists exploit encrypted apps, while North Carolina’s governor praised the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for "keeping our holidays peaceful."