A 21-year-old Valencia, Pennsylvania man has been charged with federal terrorism-related offenses after authorities say he obtained a rifle and roughly 190 rounds of ammunition to carry out a mass shooting inspired by the Islamic State.
The Department of Justice announced the arrest of Jonathan Hunter Kramer on Tuesday. According to a federal criminal complaint, Kramer faces a charge of receiving a firearm and ammunition knowing or having reasonable cause to believe they would be used to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism, including providing or conspiring to provide material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
FBI agents stopped Kramer this past weekend as he returned to a hotel carrying three 30-round rifle magazines and five boxes of ammunition. Agents then executed search warrants at the hotel room, where they seized a semiautomatic rifle and additional ammunition, and took Kramer into custody.
“Kramer was taken into custody just as he appeared to be preparing for a mass shooting that could have taken many lives, having already secured a rifle and approximately 190 rounds of ammunition for what he called his ‘mission,'” said Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg. “His apparent ISIS inspiration and escalation toward violence show how close this country came to a devastating attack. This arrest prevented what could have been a horrific tragedy.”
A history with the FBI
Kramer was not unknown to federal authorities. According to the affidavit supporting the complaint, the FBI first investigated him in 2023, when he was a minor. That investigation led Pennsylvania state authorities to adjudicate him delinquent for his role in a plot to commit a mass casualty incident and for possessing child sexual abuse material.
On March 19, 2026, shortly after Kramer was released from a Pennsylvania juvenile detention facility, an anonymous tipster contacted the FBI to report that Kramer had resumed troubling behavior, including ordering “mysterious” packages and reconnecting with “friends from before” his juvenile adjudication.
Investigators say they subsequently determined that Kramer had been operating online under the persona “Hamza Al Rashid,” claiming affiliation with ISIS, offering to share explosive manuals with others, and expressing his intent to prepare for his “mission” while noting he was still missing a “weapon.”
Kramer made his initial court appearance on Monday. The Justice Department is requesting he be held without bond.
Valencia sits in Butler County, Pennsylvania, the same county where a gunman attempted to assassinate then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The DOJ’s announcement does not indicate any connection between Kramer and that earlier attack.
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