FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday the ambush-style shooting of a Philadelphia police officer last week is being investigated as terrorism.
Comey spoke to reporters in Pittsburgh's South Side during a stop at an FBI field office. He confirmed the Jan. 7 ambush of Officer Jesse Hartnett, who is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds, is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
Philadelphia police had previously said they received a tip that the alleged gunman, 30-year-old Edward Archer, had "an affiliation to a group with radical beliefs." Archer later confessed, authorities said, to shooting in the name of Islam, and pledged allegiance to ISIS.
On Wednesday, Comey characterized the shooting as a new kind of terrorism.
"This is entirely different, first in the way the message comes. They are crowd-sourcing terrorism, using Twitter and other forms of social media to try to motivate anybody," he said, according to Trib Live.
Archer has been charged with attempted murder.
ISIS is using social media to prey on "troubled souls," Comey added, the Post-Gazette reported.