MORGANTON, N.C. -- Newly released 911 calls reveal a Morganton teen facing federal terrorist charges butted heads with his father weeks before his arrest.
Nineteen-year-old Justin Sullivan's father made the call April 21 after he returned home from the gym to find Sullivan destroying religious statues.
In one excerpt you can hear the father tell the operator, "I don't know if its ISIS or what, but I come home and he's destroying Buddhist and figurines and burning stuff in the house."
Sullivan's father told the operator Justin didn't cause any physical harm to anyone, but the house smelled like gasoline, and he was afraid his son might burn it down.
During the call the father and son go back and forth over the phone.
"Why?" Sullivan's father says.
"You want to kill me?" replies Sullivan, "They're going to put me in jail my whole life. Why are you trying to say I'm a terrorist?"
On a mobile device? Click here to listen to the 911 call.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court Monday outlines a sting operation kicking off earlier this month that resulted in Sullivan's arrest at his parents' home Friday.
Undercover FBI agents say Sullivan was working with them, planning an attack to support ISIL.
In the April 911 call Sullivan can be heard in the background saying, "They're going to put me in jail my whole life and then I'm going to die in jail."
Sullivan's father responds, "Well, you need to stop doing it."
A 12-page affidavit quotes the teen as telling an undercover FBI agent, "I'm thinking about using biological weapons… coat our bullets with cyanide and then set off a gas bomb to finish off the rest."
He also asked the agent for a silencer. The FBI built a functional silencer, mailed it to his parents' house and arrested him after his mom "picked up the mail, including the package containing the silencer."
Sullivan made an appearance in Federal court for a bond hearing on Wednesday; the case was continued until July 8.
