ISIS supporter in Pennsylvania sought to poison synagogue food — FBI

A supporter of the Islamic State group in Pennsylvania sought to poison food and drink at synagogues and backed Hamas, according to a federal criminal complaint announced on Tuesday.

Jonathan Hunter Kramer, 21, was charged with firearm- and terrorism-related offenses in the Western District of Pennsylvania federal court.

An FBI agent with the Joint Terrorism Task Force said in a criminal complaint that law enforcement had first received an anonymous tip in 2023 about a Telegram group administrator, using the moniker “Nikolas Cruz,” who was posting threats online and sharing documents about assembling explosives and car bombs.

Investigators determined that Kramer, who also used the pseudonym on Discord, was behind the “Nikolas Cruz” account. A mass shooter named Nikolas Cruz carried out the Parkland high school shooting in 2018.

While investigating the Discord account in 2023, investigators found that Kramer allegedly solicited child sexual abuse material from a 14-year-old in Germany.

The FBI searched the home of Kramer’s parents, where he lived, in Valencia, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. Investigators found a recording of Kramer pledging allegiance to ISIS on a laptop.

Kramer, a juvenile at the time, was charged in state court with plotting a mass casualty incident and possessing child sexual abuse material. He was sentenced to a juvenile treatment program that ended in March.

Shortly after, the FBI received a tip that Kramer had unrestricted internet access, had been ordering “mysterious” packages and was in contact with “his friends from before,” when he had been charged with terrorism.

The FBI had Kramer’s usernames from the 2023 investigation, including the Reddit accounts “ILoveGayRobloxPorn and “i_love-femboys6969,” and connected the accounts to Kramer’s address.

Using those accounts and a third username, “slopdestroyer,” Kramer allegedly posted ISIS and Hamas propaganda on Reddit. One of the videos showed anime-style Hamas terrorists alongside the text “Stop watching Haram Palestine needs you.”

Investigators traced Kramer’s IP address to an Amazon account that had ordered pepper spray and knives.

Another tip, from the SITE Intelligence Group, pointed the FBI to a user on the SimpleX messaging platform using the name “Hamza Al Rashid” that investigators connected to Kramer.

Kramer allegedly discussed attacks against “kuffar,” or “disbelievers,” with other users, including by using arson, poison, vehicular ramming, explosive-laden drones and shootings.

In May, Kramer allegedly told another user that he was “trying to find ways to synthesize” poisons or a “deadly chemical.”

“I wish to inject ricin or cyanide into places such as grocery stores inside water/food with a syringe, or going to food events, preferably synagogues and putting the chemicals in their food and drink,” he said. “I believe poison is a very good way to wage war against the kuffar.”

“I just need a weapon and as soon as I have that I am ready,” he said.

An FBI confidential source connected with Kramer on SimpleX, an encrypted messaging platform. Kramer told the source that he was attempting to carry out a terror attack but was unable to legally purchase firearms due to his previous arrest.

Investigators found that Kramer was attempting to buy firearms from individuals online and began to monitor his movements.

Kramer, who does not have a driver’s license, took an Uber to a Walmart, where he bought a disposable phone and obtained what appeared to be a bag with a firearm from an individual in a parking lot.

Kramer took an Uber to a hotel and paid for a room in cash, then went to a store to buy ammunition. FBI agents confronted Kramer and searched the room and Kramer’s bags, finding five 30-round rifle magazines, 190 rounds of 5.56 caliber ammunition, a semiautomatic rifle, a bipod, a rifle scope, a prayer rug, pepper spray and Faraday bags, which are used to block signals to devices like phones.

At Kramer’s home, investigators found 30 knives and a note that said, “Don’t look for me. [I don’t know] what I did but I can’t live in constant fear.”

The criminal complaint, filed on Sunday, did not name any specific targets for Kramer’s plots.

Law enforcement in the US has repeatedly thwarted attempted terror attacks on Jewish targets in recent years, including at least one other case involving poison.

A neo-Nazi, Michail Chkhikvishvili, charged in New York in 2024, had planned to distribute poisoned candy to children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn.

Last month, an ISIS supporter arrested in Albany, New York, Jessica Bowie, vowed to “poison these infidels,” although Bowie did not target Jews.

Researchers have warned that artificial intelligence could facilitate chemical and biological terrorism by providing expertise to attackers.

US Jewish communities have invested vast sums in security, surpassing $1 billion per year, according to an estimate released earlier this month.

Those security efforts include online threat monitoring. Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League have warned that disaffected young people are increasingly finding community in nihilistic online violence and extremism, in forums that are often saturated with antisemitism, making them more prone to carrying out attacks.