SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A Boston police captain's son who authorities say plotted to detonate a bomb at a university was ordered on Tuesday to remain behind bars while he awaits trial.
Alexander Ciccolo was arrested July 4 after he received four guns from a person cooperating with the FBI, authorities said.
His father is veteran police Capt. Robert Ciccolo, who alerted the FBI after his son said he wanted to join the Islamic State group. The police captain was not in U.S. District Court in Springfield for his son's detention hearing Tuesday.
Ciccolo, 23, is charged only with being a felon in possession of a firearm, but his lawyer said after the court hearing that he expects more charges.
O'Regan told Magistrate Judge Katherine Robertson that Ciccolo "came under the sway" of the Islamic State group, developed a hatred for Americans and then accepted the group's "call to action" and started making plans to kill Americans.
"He dedicated himself to killing as many people in the United States as he could," O'Regan said.
Prosecutors said Ciccolo came up with several plots, including killing law enforcement and U.S. military personnel, but then began focusing on a plan to set off a pressure cooker bomb in a university cafeteria during lunchtime so he could kill as many people as possible.
O'Regan said Ciccolo "went about implementing the plan" when he began talking with the cooperating witness about acquiring materials.