The son of a Boston police captain has pleaded guilty to planning terrorist attacks on behalf of ISIS on American targets with the intent of causing mass casualties, The Washington Free Beacon reported Tuesday.
Alexander Ciccolo, 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of terrorism, including attempting to provide material support to ISIS and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction, as well as being a convicted person in possession of firearms and assaulting a nurse with a deadly weapon.
He planned to set off improvised explosive devices filled with black powder, nails, ball bearings, and glass in several locations where many people congregate in order to inflict as many casualties as possible.
Ciccolo, who lived in Adams, Massachusetts, was arrested in July 2015 after he received four guns he ordered from someone cooperating with the FBI.
Boston CBS reported that his father, Boston Police Captain Robert Ciccolo, had tipped off the authorities after his son talked about joining ISIS.
He had also expressed his online support in 2014 for the terrorist organization and for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, WAMC reported.
Ciccolo, who used the alias Ali Al Amriki online, agreed to serve a 20-year prison sentence followed by a lifetime of supervised release, with sentencing set for Sept. 5, according to NBC News.
Court documents described him as having "a long history of mental illness."
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