A 22-year-old Maryland man who told federal agents that "jihad will never stop" and vowed to carry out attacks after his release was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for attempting to provide material support to ISIS. U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson imposed the sentence, plus lifetime supervised release, on Michael Sam Teekaye Jr. of Hanover, Maryland, Newsmax reported.

Teekaye had pleaded guilty in January to the charge, which carried a maximum of 20 years. The sentence handed down Wednesday lands just five years short of that ceiling, and the defendant's own words after his arrest help explain why.

The case lays bare a chilling sequence: a young American who spent more than a year moving from radical talk to weapons training to a boarding pass, all while telling an undercover officer he wanted to "gun down" Jewish people and supporters of Israel in his own community. That the FBI stopped him at the airport gate, not after an attack, is the only reason this story ends in a courtroom instead of a crime scene.

From online radicalization to shooting range

Court documents cited by the Department of Justice trace Teekaye's path from early 2023 through his arrest in October 2024. Between March and April 2023, he engaged in conversations with an undercover officer, stating he wanted to travel to Africa to join ISIS as a "mujahid", a fighter.

But Teekaye did not stop at foreign aspirations. He told the officer his "plan B" was to carry out an attack inside the United States against Jews and supporters of Israel. He said he had researched buildings near him that support Israel and thought about how to "gun down key members or anyone involved."

In May and June 2024, Teekaye purchased ammunition and range time at a shooting range in Severn, Maryland, describing the sessions as "training." The following month, he attempted to buy a Kalashnikov K-9 9 mm rifle. He was denied, not because of any terrorism watchlist flag, but because he was already on probation for a state criminal case. The nature of that prior case has not been disclosed.

The denial did not slow him down. It redirected him.

An ISIS fighter, a visa, and a ticket to Somalia

Court documents detailed Teekaye's contact with a Somali ISIS fighter, with whom he coordinated travel plans to leave the country and join the terrorist organization directly. Teekaye obtained an Ethiopian e-visa and received airline tickets from the ISIS fighter to fly from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Somalia, routed through Istanbul, Turkey, with a layover in London.

On October 10, 2024, four days before his planned departure, Teekaye sent the undercover officer a photograph of himself wearing a mask and holding a machete. He referred to himself as "Abdullah the Islamophobe slayer."

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was watching. On October 14, 2024, agents arrested Teekaye at BWI airport after he had already checked in for his flight. He kicked and spat on one of the arresting officers.

The case fits a pattern that federal law enforcement has confronted repeatedly in recent years. A Navy sailor and two others were arrested in a separate alleged ISIS plot targeting U.S. service members, and other domestic ISIS support cases have surfaced across the country.

A defendant who promised to keep going

What sets this case apart from many terrorism prosecutions is the defendant's own defiant statements after his arrest. Teekaye did not claim innocence. He did not invoke a lawyer's advice to stay silent. He promised more.

Speaking to federal law enforcement after being taken into custody, Teekaye said:

"I'm just gonna get out in 20 years and I'm just gonna do it here. OK? OK? It will never stop. Jihad will never stop. I'll just do it here then, when I get out."

He then referenced a recent attack in which ISIS prison inmates killed four Russian penal colony guards, and used it as a threat against his own captors:

"You think 20 years is something? I'll be like 40 when I get out, then I'll just do it. I don't care. It will never stop. Jihad will never stop. I'll come and I'll kill your soldiers. I'll kill you."

While in custody, Teekaye also threatened to kill a prison guard. Whether that threat or his assault on the arresting officer resulted in additional charges has not been disclosed.

The FBI's search of Teekaye's cellphone after his arrest turned up searches for specific Jewish and Israeli people and organizations in Howard County, Maryland. Agents also found searches for "how to break into a home" and "how to escape murder." Among the individuals identified in those searches was a rabbi, who submitted a victim-impact statement and spoke at the sentencing about how Teekaye's conduct affected him and the broader Jewish community.

U.S. Attorney: 'No margin for error'

U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes for the District of Maryland issued a statement following the sentencing. She framed the case in direct terms.

"Mr. Teekaye sought to support a foreign terrorist organization that has committed unspeakable acts of violence and took real-world steps to carry out a terrorist attack in Maryland."

Hayes added that the sentence "underscores that those who seek to aid terrorist organizations will be identified, prosecuted, and held fully accountable."

She credited the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force for the work that stopped Teekaye before he could board his flight, or act on his domestic attack plans. Federal authorities have also moved against Americans accused of funding ISIS drone attacks on U.S. troops, part of a broader effort to cut off the terror group's domestic support network.

"I commend the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and our law enforcement partners for their exceptional work in disrupting this threat and protecting our communities before any harm could occur. There is no margin for error when it comes to terrorism."

What the sentence means, and what it doesn't

Fifteen years is a serious sentence. Combined with lifetime supervised release, it ensures that even after prison, Teekaye will remain under federal watch for the rest of his life. But Teekaye himself told agents he would be roughly 40 years old upon release, and that he planned to resume his mission.

The case raises questions that the sentencing does not answer. The Somali ISIS fighter who provided Teekaye with airline tickets has not been publicly identified, charged, or arrested, at least not in any disclosure tied to this case. The state criminal case that put Teekaye on probation, and that blocked his rifle purchase, remains undisclosed. And whether his post-arrest threats and his assault on the arresting officer led to any additional prosecution is unknown.

What is clear is the timeline. From radical conversations in spring 2023 to weapons training in mid-2024 to a boarding pass in October 2024, Teekaye moved steadily from ideology to action. The system caught him. Barely.

The broader fight against ISIS recruitment on American soil continues. A joint U.S.-Nigerian strike recently killed an ISIS global operations chief, a reminder that the organization retains operational capacity even as its territorial caliphate has collapsed.

And the threat is not limited to ISIS. A Los Angeles woman was arrested at LAX for allegedly trafficking Iranian weapons, illustrating the range of Americans willing to aid hostile foreign actors.

The real cost

A rabbi in Howard County had to stand in a federal courtroom and explain what it felt like to learn that a man in his community had searched for his name while planning violence against Jews. That is the human cost that no sentencing guideline fully captures.

Teekaye's own words, recorded, uncoerced, delivered with evident conviction, tell the country everything it needs to know about the nature of the threat. He did not express remorse. He expressed a schedule.

Fifteen years and lifetime supervision may be the best the law can do. Whether it is enough depends on whether the system that caught Teekaye at the gate is still watching when he walks out the door.