Federal agents arrested an 18-year-old Minnesota man accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at the Mall of America after he bought a rifle from an undercover operative.
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, a U.S. citizen born in the United States, was taken into custody at gunpoint after he allegedly paid $600 for an AK-47-style rifle, four magazines, and about 200 rounds of ammunition from an undercover FBI employee he believed was tied to ISIS. The rifle had been rendered inoperable. The ammunition was live.
Fox News reported that agents moved in as Mohamud left a vehicle carrying the items in a duffel bag. He now faces a federal charge of knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition while knowing or having reasonable cause to believe they would be used to commit a felony and a federal crime of terrorism.
Officials say the target was the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, one of the country’s busiest shopping centers, and that the alleged attack date was only weeks away.
FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dotson said the case shows how quickly a radicalized young man can move from talk to action when he thinks he has found help.
"Mohamud met with someone he believed to be a loyal member of ISIS to attempt to purchase an AK-47 rifle, knowing it would be used in a felony or federal crime of terrorism,"
Dotson said. He added that Mohamud “planned to use the gun he bought in a high-traffic public area just a few weeks’ time in support of a designated foreign terrorist organization.”
According to newly filed federal court documents described in the coverage, the FBI’s investigation began around December 2024. A confidential human source first connected with Mohamud over encrypted messaging and social media while the teen talked about leaving the United States.
In May, Mohamud allegedly told the source he was “so excited to make hijrah,” wanted to go to Somalia, get married, and “fight the enemies of Allah.” He discussed working about six weeks to save $2,000 for a plane ticket.
By July the plan had shifted. He said he did not have enough money to travel and wrote, “so i will do attack here.” He talked about buying two pistols online and going to the Mall of America or the Minnesota State Fair around Christmas.
In September the language grew more specific. Court papers quote him saying:
"I can’t wait until I kill kuffar man. October 24 is the day insha Allah,"
He pointed to a “Hmong Arts Celebration” at the mall that would draw “a lot of people,” called it a “kuffar festival,” and discussed driving “straight to the crowded place and start shooting” with an assault rifle. That same month he allegedly sent a selfie-style video pledging allegiance to ISIS and its leader.
On Sept. 25, the source told him a “brother” could sell an AK-style rifle, magazines, and ammunition. Mohamud indicated he wanted the weapon fully automatic. Days later came the undercover buy and the arrest.
Breitbart reported that U.S. Attorney Dan Rosen described Mohamud as a radicalized young man who needed close watching and said agents detected the threat and stopped it before he could act on his stated intention “to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people.”
The Washington Examiner noted the yearslong sting and that Minnesota’s top federal prosecutor announced the case after the arrest of the American-born citizen of Somali descent who had been under investigation since December 2024.
Mohamud’s parents arrived in the United States through a New York City airport in 2000. His mother became a naturalized citizen in 2010 and his father in 2017. How they first entered the country was not clarified in the available court and law-enforcement accounts.
Mohamud appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright for an eight-minute initial hearing. The judge ordered him temporarily detained. A preliminary and detention hearing was set for Monday, Oct. 19, at 11 a.m. ET.
FBI Director Kash Patel credited the Minneapolis field office with stopping a mass-casualty plan in support of ISIS and said the bureau is moving faster against terrorists than before, citing more than 1,100 individuals prevented from conducting attacks, more than 4,000 foreign terrorist organization-related disruptions and arrests, and a 38% increase in that work.
"We will continue to use every resource we have to detect and prevent acts of terrorism and wipe out their networks all over the country. Thank you to FBI Minneapolis, who did an outstanding job in the investigation and likely saved lives."
President Donald Trump told reporters he had heard about the case and that “they did a great job. The FBI did a great job.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking in Mason, Michigan, called the disruption another example of why law enforcement matters.
"What would happen if that 18-year-old had made it into that mall? It would have been a very different outcome. So we applaud everybody involved in that investigation, all the great law enforcement officers who did their job, and we pray their safety for their safety and that they continue to do that work around the country,"
Johnson said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted on X that he was “Grateful for the swift and professional action to keep Minnesotans safe,” and added that this is “exactly the kind of threat we need federal law enforcement working to prevent, and the kind of work that should remain a priority as we navigate a more dangerous world.”
The Mall of America thanked the FBI and its partners “for their vigilance and extraordinary investigative work in identifying, disrupting and removing this threat and protecting the community we all share,” and said safety remains its highest priority.
No one was hurt. The mall stayed open. The rifle never left federal control in working form. That is the difference between a charging document and a crime scene.
The affidavit trail shows months of explicit talk about murdering nonbelievers, a pledge to a designated foreign terrorist group, a chosen crowded date, and a cash handoff for a battle rifle and hundreds of rounds. Agents met him at the point of sale and ended the plan there.
Radicalization does not need a passport when the target is already down the highway. Federal undercover work and a confidential source turned a would-be massacre into an arrest, and kept a major American landmark from becoming another name on a memorial wall.
When the FBI still hunts jihadists before they reach the food court, Americans stay alive. That is the job. It worked.
