A teenager has been arrested for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired drone terror attack on Phoenix’s Pride events. 

Marvin Aneer Jalo, 17, of Peoria, just outside of Phoenix, was arrested on October 18 and charged with felony counts of terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism. 

Jalo is accused of having an instructional video on his phone that depicted an ISIS fighter making the explosive Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), according to AZ Family.  He is said to have been communicating with extremists who recruited him in a chatroom in 2023.

He is said to have posted that he could ‘bomb a 2024 Pride Parade and take over USA’ and that he had supplies to make explosive shipped to him, according to the outlet. 

Police believe, based on his messages, that the teen planned on making a ‘bomb drone’ using a remote-controlled vehicle. 

‘He definitely took steps in the process of putting together something that would act as an explosive,’ Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell told AZ Family. 

Mitchell said the boy had ‘very radical ideas’ and that he was ‘homophobic.’ 

The criminal complaint, viewed by AZ Family, said that Jalo had searched the Phoenix Pride parade event prior to the celebrations last weekend. 

The case is being investigating by the Attorney’s Office, the FBI, and two police departments. 

‘These are serious charges. They do come with mandatory prison sentences,’ Mitchell said. 

Jalo is currently being held on a $1million cash-only bond, according to Mitchell. 

The Attorney’s Office said Jalo had ‘intentionally or knowingly [provided] advice, assistance, direction or management of an act of terrorism’. They added that the intention of this had been ‘to further the goals, desires, aims, public pronouncements, manifestos or political objectives’ of ISIS. 

The teenager is accused of participating in chatrooms between November 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024, where he is said to have discussed the ‘supplies necessary to make an improvised explosive device.’  

The Pride celebrations carried on without incident and saw Governor Katie Hobbs and Former UN Ambassador Susan Rice attend.

Earlier this year, ahead of Pride Month in June, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned that a foreign terrorist organization and their supporters might attack venues and events. 

Major cities, like New York City, strengthen security at its events in June. 

Phoneix’s Pride events are held in October, which is LGBT History Month, instead of June due to the high summer temperatures in the city.