When I was a kid, growing up around police officers in Albany, Georgia, there was a trend people seemed to notice. I remember a friend of my father’s telling me that odds were good that I’d either end up a police officer myself or end up a criminal. That seemed to be the trend, and while I told him I wouldn’t be either–nothing against the police, but it’s something my father didn’t want me doing with my life–I also knew the trends.

For the son of a Boston police captain who was one of the first responders at the deadly Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, he took that trend and ramped it up to 11.

Yesterday, he pled guilty to charges of terrorism.

The son of a police captain who was one of the first responders at the scene of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing pleaded guilty Monday to plotting an ISIS-style attack.

Alexander Ciccolo faces 20 years in prison for plotting to use guns and homemade bombs to attack a college campus to support the Islamic State group. Sentencing has been scheduled for September.

Ciccolo was arrested in July 2015 after he received four guns he ordered from a person who was cooperating with the FBI, as Fox News previously reported. Boston police Capt. Robert Ciccolo tipped off authorities after his son said he wanted to join the Islamic State group.

Ciccolo, 25, initially was charged only with being a felon in possession of a firearm and stabbing a nurse in the head with a pen after he was brought to jail. But he later was indicted on attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction.

Ciccolo, who went by the name Ali Al Amriki, pleaded guilty to all charges. His plea came a month before he was set to go on trial.

This has got to be tough for the father. Especially since he was the one who first alerted the authorities to his son’s behavior.

Ciccolo reportedly also purchased a pressure cooker just prior to his arrest. As some of you may remember, the Boston Marathon bombers used pressure cookers to build their devices.

In other words, the boy was definitely making plans for creating serious mayhem. The purchase of firearms indicates the plan was a mass shooting type attack, possibly kicked off by using a bomb to flush people toward an ambush point. But that’s just speculation on my part.

What we do know is that a potential terrorist is off the streets and with his guilty plea, he’ll stay off those streets for a long, long time. Hopefully, the boy can get his head screwed on straight long before he gets out. While his life is completely ruined, at least then he’ll really understand why he’s locked up. Frankly, I don’t have any pity for him and his ruined life. He made his bed, now he gets to hope he doesn’t have to share it with a 500 lbs muscular man who thinks he has pretty lips.

I can’t really care anymore. I’m just glad he’s being charged with planning an attack, rather than carrying one out.