Man Called Islamic State Devotee, Son of Officer, is Arrested

The son of a Boston police captain, described as mentally ill and devoted to the Islamic State, plotted a series of deadly attacks with guns and homemade bombs, including a pressure-cooker explosive modeled on the bombs used at the 2013 Boston Marathon, law enforcement officials said Monday.

The primary target chosen by the man, Alexander Ciccolo, was a state university because of the large number of potential victims, according to an affidavit by an FBI agent, Paul Ambrogio, that was unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Massachusetts. The court papers do not name the university or the state. In secretly recorded conversations, the document says, Ciccolo, 23, said that "the attack would be concentrated in the college dorms and cafeteria, to include executions of students which would be broadcast live via the Internet."

Investigators found "several partially constructed Molotov cocktails" in Ciccolo's apartment in Adams, Massachusetts, and he was arrested July 4 with two assault rifles and two handguns, all illegally obtained, Ambrogio wrote.

Law enforcement officials said that in the recorded conversations, with a person pretending to assist him, Ciccolo talked about building pipe bombs and the pressure-cooker bomb; listed the supplies he wanted to obtain, like black powder from fireworks, an explosive called gelignite and guns; and said he intended to rob a gun store for more weapons.

Last fall, "a close acquaintance" notified the FBI that Ciccolo had expressed a desire to fight, and even die, for the Islamic State, according to a memorandum filed with the court by Carmen M. Ortiz, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts. The tipster said that "the defendant had a long history of mental illness and in the last 18 months had become obsessed with Islam."

An official briefed on the case said the person who had alerted the bureau was the suspect's father, Robert Ciccolo, a Boston police captain. "While we were saddened and disappointed to learn of our son's intentions, we are grateful that authorities were able to prevent any loss of life or harm to others," the Ciccolo family said in a statement.