CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Western Pennsylvania man accused of buying a gun and ammunition with intent to commit terrorism was arrested outside of a local hotel over the weekend.
Federal agents arrested Jonathan Kramer, 21, of Valencia, Butler County, on Saturday in Cranberry Township.
Known to the FBI
According to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice, Kramer has been known to the FBI since early in 2023. Kramer, then a minor, was charged and adjudicated delinquent by police in Pennsylvania for his role in a plot to commit a mass casualty incident and for possessing child porn.
After Kramer was released from a juvenile detention facility in March of this year, someone submitted an anonymous online top to the FBI, saying Kramer was ordering “mysterious” packages and “talking to his friends from before” his juvenile adjudication.
Authorities said they confirmed he had been using an online persona who claimed affiliation with ISIS. He allegedly offered to share explosive manuals with others, and expressed his intent to prepare for his “mission” and that he was just missing a “weapon.”
FBI Tracking Kramer
On Saturday, Sept. 12, the FBI watched Kramer leave his home with a bag and take a rideshare to the Walmart in Richland Township, where he bought a disposable phone.
After leaving the store, authorities said he met someone in the parking lot and got a long black bag from a car trunk, which investigators believe was a rifle.
Authorities said Kramer then traveled to the Cranberry Park Hotel in Cranberry Township and booked a room. According to court documents, Kramer then went to a sporting goods store in the area, where FBI agents report seeing him at the gun counter.
Once Kramer returned to the hotel, federal agents approached him in the parking lot, where he agreed to speak with them.
Rifle, 190 Rounds of Ammunition Found During Search Warrant
The FBI executed search warrants on Kramer’s person, his hotel room and his home.
According to court documents, agents seized a semiautomatic rifle, five rifle magazines (two loaded and the other three each offering a 30-round capacity), a rifle bipod and scope, a total of 190 rounds of rifle ammunition, an entrenchment tool, a prayer rug, pepper spray, and approximately 30 knives, along with a handwritten note stating “DoNt look For me[.] IDK what I did buT I cant live In constant Fear[.]”
“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 for National Security 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.”
‘I overheard him say, ‘Today is the day,’ a witness tells Channel 11
A witness, who asked not to be identified, told Channel 11 he and his daughter were walking back to their room at the same hotel on Saturday when a stranger, later identified as Kramer, crossed their path.
“This guy approached me and was real off, and he asked me where the reception desk was, and I pointed. As he was walking away from me, I overheard him say, ‘Today is the day,’ and that was unsettling to me,” the man said.
The guest says he went back to the reception area to “observe” Kramer.
“As he was picking up his bags off the ground, I could hear what sounded to me like magazines, firearm magazines, rolling around in the bag,” the man said.
The U.S. Attorney General’s Office is set to have a news conference Tuesday morning to discuss more details about Kramer’s arrest.
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