ISIS Inspired Teen Attempts To Kill Family During Sleepover, One Dead Multiple Injured [Press Conference Video]

PALM BEACH GARDENS — A Jupiter teenager said his Muslim faith led him to fatally stab a boy on his 13th birthday and injure two others at a sleepover Sunday night in BallenIsles Country Club, Palm Beach Gardens police said during a 2 p.m. news conference.

Corey Johnson, 17, was arrested Monday after he reportedly confessed to stabbing the three people while he spent the night at a friend’s home in the gated community off PGA Boulevard.

He faces one murder and two attempted-murder charges in the stabbings. The FBI also is investigating the attacks.

Also Tuesday, Judge Daliah H. Weiss ordered Johnson be held in a juvenile detention center while a grand jury decides whether to charge him as an adult in the killing. Friends and family of the victims packed the juvenile courtroom Tuesday afternoon for the brief hearing.

Johnson, who police said recently withdrew from William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens, told authorities he woke up at about 4 a.m. Monday at his friend Kyle Bancroft’s home. He decided to kill Kyle’s mother, Elaine Simon; Kyle’s brother, Dane, 13; and Dane’s friend, Jovanni Sierra, 13, while they slept, he said.

Dane reportedly had “made fun of” Johnson’s Islamic faith, the teen said, according to the police report. Jovanni Sierra, who turned 13 on Monday, referred to celebrities as “gods,” Johnson said. That upset him because it is contrary to the Islamic faith to idolize others as a god, he said.

Johnson and Kyle watched violent jihadist videos Sunday night, they said. Johnson stabbed Jovanni Sierra and slit his throat with a knife he had brought with him to the house.

Johnson said he read the Quran before going to the house. He turned to the Muslim holy book “to give him courage to carry out his intentions,” according to an arrest report.

American Islamic leaders have repeatedly condemned expressions of their faith, the second largest in the world after Christianity, that involve violence and terrorism, especially since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Shortly before 6 a.m. Monday, Simon — a family-law attorney based in Palm Beach Gardens — heard what sounded like Jovanni Sierra moaning. She went upstairs to investigate.

As Simon walked to the top of the stairs, Johnson lunged at her with a knife and stabbed her. She told city police she’d known the teen for a decade. Authorities said she was stabbed at least a dozen times and fell down the stairs.

Dane ran to protect his mother. He was stabbed more than two dozen times, police said.