BOISE, ID (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The young man accused of planning terrorist attacks on Idaho churches in support of the Islamic State group has pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

18-year-old Alexander Mercurio was arrested last Saturday before investigators say he could attack churchgoers in Coeur d’Alene the next day.

The FBI said Mercurio talked with confidential informants over two years, eventually detailing an attack plan using a variety of weapons – including a metal pipe, butane fuel, a machete, and if he could get them, his father’s guns in the attack.

He was charged in Idaho’s US District Court with one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terror organization.

The FBI said he tried to build an explosive vest to wear during the attack, which he planned to continue at other churches until he was killed. Mercurio told an informant that he first connected with ISIS when schools were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.