Boston Police Captain Son Indicted onTerrorism Charges

He was inspired by ISIS.

7.1.2016

On Thursday, the son of a Boston police captain was indicted on charges of plotting an attack on a college campus in support of the Islamic State. (ISIS)

A federal grand jury indicted Alexander Ciccolo on one count each of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction. Those charges were added to a pending indictment charging Ciccolo with being a convicted person in possession of firearms and stabbing a nurse with a pen during a jail intake process.

Ciccolo was arrested last July in a plot to detonate homemade bombs similar to the pressure cooker bombs used in the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon attack. Twin bombs placed near the marathon finish line killed three people and injured more than 260 others.

Ciccolo's father, Boston police captain Robert Ciccolo alerted the FBI that his son wanted to join ISIS. Son Alexander was arrested after receiving guns from a person cooperating with the authorities.

The indictment said that Ciccolo, who also used the name Ali Al Amriki, plotted to bomb an unidentified state university outside Massachusetts.

During a detention hearing after his arrest last year prosecutors said he received four guns from a person cooperating with members of the Western Massachusetts Joint Terrorism Task Force.

The prosecution said that Ciccolo spoke with the cooperating witness about his plans to commit terrorism inspired by ISIS using pressure cooker bombs in places like college cafeterias.