A male teen from South Carolina, who was found influenced by members of the extremist Islamic State group (ISIS) and had plans to shoot American soldiers, has received a 5-year sentence in a juvenile prison.
The South Carolina Herald said in a report that a family court led by Judge Michael Holt of Darlington County charged the 16-year-old on grounds of firearm possession because the state has no laws to charge acts of terrorism.
Moreover, the boy conspired to steal from a gun shop and randomly shoot American soldiers, Solicitor Kevin Bracket said in a recorded statement before the court hearing.
"He had been sort of seduced by the radical Islamic ideology that has been put forth by the group in the Middle East known as ISIS... and that it was his desire to join them," Brackett said in a related report by Reuters.
According to Brackett, the boy initially said the gun he had was for the safety of his family since his father's death. However, with further questioning, the boy admitted that he wanted to use the pistol to further pursue his ambition of becoming a member of ISIS.
On Tuesday, U.S. authorities sentenced six, young Somali-American males from Minnesota who had plans to join the Islamic State fighters. ISIS members had seized a portion of Iraq and a large part of Syria.
Authorities from European countries and the U.S. are alarmed with the increasing number of citizens being influenced by militant groups and are concerned about the possibility of them launching terrorist attacks back at home.
