FBI Arrests Minnesota Teen Accused of Plotting ISIS-Inspired Mass Shooting at Mall of America
Federal prosecutors charged an 18-year-old from Richfield, Minnesota, with receiving a firearm to commit a terrorism crime, saying an FBI undercover operation stopped a planned Oct. 24 mass shooting at the Mall of America before it could be carried out.
MINNEAPOLIS — An 18-year-old Minnesota man was charged on Wednesday with receiving a firearm and ammunition to commit a federal crime of terrorism, after federal agents said they disrupted a plan for a mass shooting at the Mall of America later this month.
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud of Richfield was arrested by the FBI on Oct. 6 and made his first appearance on Oct. 7 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors said he will remain in custody until a detention hearing on Oct. 19, according to CNN.
Undercover sale ended with an arrest in a public park
According to the criminal complaint described by the Justice Department, investigators arranged for an undercover FBI employee to sell Mohamud an AK-47 rifle, four 30-round magazines and about 200 rounds of ammunition on Oct. 6. The department said the rifle had been rendered inert before the sale. Agents arrested him shortly after he paid about $600 in cash and took possession of the items, according to the department, and officials said he restated his plan during the transaction.
The case grew out of an investigation that began around December 2024, when Mohamud began exchanging hundreds of messages with a confidential source through social media and messaging apps, according to the Justice Department. In those messages, prosecutors alleged, he first spoke about traveling to Somalia to join a designated foreign terrorist organization and said that if he could not afford the trip, he would instead carry out a mass-casualty attack in Minnesota in support of ISIS.
Complaint describes an Oct. 24 target date
By July, according to the complaint, Mohamud was discussing a shooting at the Mall of America and saying he wanted to kill 30 to 60 people. Prosecutors alleged that in August and September he discussed buying a gun, recruiting others and sent a video of himself pledging allegiance to ISIS.
In September, according to the Justice Department, he identified Oct. 24 as the planned date and pointed to a Hmong Arts Celebration scheduled at the mall that day. Reuters noted that the Mall of America, near Minneapolis, is the largest mall in the United States.
A Mall of America spokesperson said the news was unsettling for guests and staff and thanked law enforcement partners for identifying and removing the threat, according to CNN.
The investigation involved the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bloomington Police Department, with help from IRS Criminal Investigation, according to the Justice Department. A criminal complaint contains allegations only, and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Reporting based on coverage by the U.S. Department of Justice, Reuters and CNN.
