A detention hearing is scheduled today for Alexander Ciccolo, 23, of Adams, Ma., the son of a Boston police captain whose tip to the FBI about the son's desire to fight for the Islamic State prompted federal agents to arrest him on July 4 in connection with an alleged plot to attack a university, the Boston Globe reports. Young Ciccolo, was inspired by the Boston Marathon bombers and allegedly plotted with a witness working for the FBI to set off explosives and shoot up a cafeteria at the unnamed university. He was arrested after allegedly receiving four firearms from an FBI witness.
Boston Police Capt. Robert Ciccolo, who has been estranged from his son for several years, apparently told the FBI last fall that his son had expressed an interest in traveling to Iraq or Syria to fight with the Islamic State. The son had a history of mental illness and had become obsessed with Islam. Federal authorities said Alexander Ciccolo maintained a Facebook profile under the name Ali Al Amriki and posted messages expressing an interest in martyrdom and a desire to fight for the Islamic State. One posting on Oct. 27, 2014, showed what appeared to be an image of a dead American soldier and a message that read, “Thank You Islamic State! Now we won't have to deal with these kafir [unbelievers] back in America.”