The latest American arrested for alleged ISIS sympathies and possessing firearms to presumably be used in a domestic attack is the 23-year-old son of a Boston police captain. His father, according to ABC News, was one of the first responders in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
Arrests of American citizens with alleged intentions to carry out terrorist plots in the name of ISIS often take dramatic story arcs, but this one is laden with tragic irony.
According to the Justice Department's account, Alexander Ciccolo—who also goes by the name Ali Al Amriki—planned, like the Tsarnaev brothers in the 2013 attack, to set off a pressure-cooker bomb loaded with shrapnel in a crowded area. His father is Police Capt. Robert Ciccolo, who works at Boston police headquarters. According to a local CBS affiliate, the older Ciccolo turned his son into law enforcement.
"Ciccolo spoke with a cooperating witness in recorded conversations about his plans to commit acts of terrorism inspired by [ISIS], including setting off improvised explosive devices, such as pressure cookers filled with black powder, nails, ball bearings, and glass, in places where large numbers of people congregate, such as college cafeterias," a Justice Department press release states. "Prior to his arrest, agents observed Ciccolo purchase a pressure cooker similar to that used in the Boston Marathon bombings."