Federal prosecutors allege an 18-year-old planned to kill non-Muslims at one of America’s best-known shopping centres, after investigators monitored him for almost two years and arrested him as he took delivery of a rifle.
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, has been charged after he allegedly bought an AK-47, 200 rounds of ammunition and four 30-round magazines from an undercover FBI employee. He was arrested on Tuesday in a public park in Richfield, Minnesota, and appeared at a federal court in St Paul on Wednesday. Prosecutors allege he intended to carry out a mass shooting at the Mall of America on 24 October in support of the Islamic State group. No attack took place and nobody was hurt.
The arrest and court appearance
Mr Mohamud appeared for his initial hearing wearing a yellow jail uniform. US Attorney Daniel Rosen said: “This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched.”
According to the US Department of Justice, the teenager was arrested immediately after the transaction, which cost $600. The complaint says he believed he was obtaining the weapon through an extremist connection, as the undercover source had presented himself as someone linked to ISIS.
Mr Rosen said agents “were able to detect a threat, and disrupt it, before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people”.
What prosecutors say he planned
The complaint alleges that in text messages with an FBI informant, Mr Mohamud repeatedly confirmed his intention to kill non-Muslims at the mall on 24 October, the date of a scheduled Hmong arts celebration. Investigators say the case moved beyond extremist rhetoric because it involved specific targets, a proposed date, discussion of method and, finally, the acquisition of a firearm and ammunition.
Asked by the source about his motivation, Mr Mohamud allegedly said he wanted to target the mall “because its owned by Jewish” people, adding: “so if I kill even 30 people no one would go there anymore.” He also cited an attack on an Islamic Center in San Diego, saying he was “angry at the bad treatment of Muslims”.
Prosecutors also highlighted a message in which he allegedly discussed getting a “gun here and just start killing a bunch of white ppl”. They say he spoke of martyrdom and suggested he had drawn inspiration from Omar Mateen, who carried out the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. He is further alleged to have expressed admiration for the Bondi Beach attack in Australia and the New Orleans attack in January 2025.
Before settling on the Mall of America, he allegedly considered Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota, as a possible target around Christmas.
A long-running investigation
The FBI investigation began in December 2024, when Mr Mohamud was still a teenager. The confidential source is said to have exchanged hundreds of messages with him across different platforms, giving investigators what prosecutors describe as a substantial record of his alleged plans.
Agents tried to speak to him at his home in May 2025. His mother said he was at school, while his father declined to talk to investigators and said any communication should go through a lawyer.
The Department of Justice says Mr Mohamud discussed his hatred of non-Muslims and his desire to join an Islamic terror group. He allegedly considered al Qaeda and al Shabaab before deciding to support the Islamic State. Prosecutors say his original ambition was to travel to Somalia, but financial difficulties prevented it, and he then turned to the idea of an attack in Minnesota.
The charge
Mr Mohamud is accused of knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition while knowing, or having reason to believe, that they would be used to commit a felony and a federal terrorism offence.
Authorities describe him as a US-born citizen of Somali descent, whose parents are originally from Somalia. There is no public indication that ISIS leadership directed or coordinated the alleged plot. The allegations describe an individual who prosecutors say became radicalised and wanted to support the group.
