Federal agents charged an 18-year-old Minnesota man with plotting an ISIS-backed mass shooting at the Mall of America, cutting off what prosecutors say was a plan to kill dozens of shoppers this month.
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, an American citizen of Somali descent, was arrested Tuesday and charged Wednesday after allegedly seeking an AK-47 rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition for a terror attack at the nation’s largest mall. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said the teen intended to kill somewhere between 30 and 60 people.
Daily Caller reporting detailed the federal case: Mohamud faces charges alleging he sought the rifle and 200 rounds with intent to commit terrorism and provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Officials tied the planned strike to Mall of America and said it was set for this month.
Rosen thanked Minnesota-based FBI agents and Bloomington police at a Wednesday press briefing and framed the case in plain terms. The threat from ISIS-inspired actors, he said, remains live on U.S. soil.
"Today’s charges demonstrate that the threat of terrorism in support of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations is active and continuing,"
Rosen said.
Court records cited in the case show Mohamud had pledged allegiance to ISIS more than a year earlier. Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dotson of the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office said the teen repeatedly voiced support for foreign terrorist groups and, unable to travel overseas to fight, turned his focus to Minnesota.
An affidavit joining the criminal complaint captured the alleged motive in Mohamud’s own words. He messaged a contact that he wanted to hit the mall “because its owned by jewish [sic] so if i kill even 30 people noone would go there anymore. I want to harm the jew just like the brothers in australia bondi beach harmed the jews.”
He also wrote about martyrdom and about killing white people he labeled “kuffar,” saying he hoped officers would shoot him dead rather than send him to prison. Dotson called the messages chilling and said they showed idolization of ideologically motivated violence, disregard for human life, hatred of other faiths, and a cold commitment to carry out bloodshed in the community.
Dotson told reporters Mohamud had described himself as “100 percent committed” to what the agent called his “planned jihad journey.”
"Over the course of this investigation, Mohamud repeatedly expressed support of foreign terrorist organizations. And because he felt like he could not travel abroad to fight for these organizations, he instead expressed his intent to commit a terrorist inspired attack here in the United States in Minnesota."
Dotson said.
That kind of domestic disruption work matches other recent FBI cases against ISIS-inspired plots aimed at crowded public sites.
Breitbart reported that agents had monitored Mohamud for nearly two years and that he obtained an AK-47-style rifle and ammunition from an undercover FBI employee posing as an ISIS associate. The planned attack date, per that account, was October 24, 2026.
Rosen underscored why the watch mattered. This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched, he said, and agents detected the threat and broke it up before the defendant could kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people.
Fox News coverage filled in the charging theory and the timeline of the probe. Fox News reported Mohamud is the son of Somali nationals, that the FBI investigation dated to around December 2024, and that he is charged with knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition knowing or having reasonable cause to believe they would be used to commit a felony and a federal crime of terrorism.
According to an affidavit cited in that reporting, Mohamud told an FBI source: “I can’t wait until I kill kuffar man. October 24 is the day insha Allah.” Dotson said Mohamud met with someone he believed to be a loyal ISIS member to try to buy the AK-47, knowing it would be used in a felony or federal terrorism crime. Officials also said he discussed striking around a Hmong arts celebration at the mall.
Crowded retail centers and government buildings keep drawing the same ideology. Federal and state partners have also moved on alleged plots against seats of government, including a Texas Capitol shooting threat case that required joint work to stop.
The affidavit material laid out a grim calculation. Mohamud allegedly said he wanted to die a martyr and feared prison, writing that if he killed a neighbor with fire or a knife he might only be jailed, and that he would rather die any other way. That is why, the messages said, he wanted either to get abroad or get a gun in America and “just start killing a bunch of white ppl (because a lot of white ppl are kuffar).”
On Tuesday, the same day as his arrest, he allegedly met the person he believed was an ISIS member to attempt the rifle and ammo purchase. Agents took him into custody before the mall plan could move forward. No injuries or attack occurred. The charges followed on Wednesday.
FBI Director Kash Patel struck a direct note after the announcement, stressing prevention over cleanup.
"This FBI is finding terrorists BEFORE they can attack Americans, and we will keep using every resource we have to dismantle their networks across this country."
Patel said.
Similar ISIS-inspired charging papers have surfaced in other states, including an Albany case alleging a bomb plot against a state capitol, another reminder that online radicalization still turns into concrete targeting of American landmarks.
Open questions remain in the public file. Absolute calendar dates for the Tuesday arrest and Wednesday charge were not pinned beyond the October 7, 2026 reporting window. Full docket language and next-hearing details were not spelled out in the initial accounts. Custody status and defense counsel were not listed in the early briefings.
What is on the record is enough for the core story. An 18-year-old U.S. citizen allegedly swore himself to ISIS, fixated on Jews and “kuffar,” picked the Mall of America, sought a battlefield rifle and a large ammo load, and walked into a controlled buy with a person he thought was the terror group’s man. Prosecutors say the body count goal sat between 30 and 60. The FBI and local partners stopped him first.
Soft-target security is not abstract when the target is a mall full of families. The same pressure shows up when agents and state officers halt alleged attacks on state capitols before gunfire starts.
Rosen’s office and Dotson’s field team put the case in the prevention column. Patel’s line matched the outcome: find them before Americans pay the price. Taxpayers fund that work so shoppers do not become statistics. When an alleged jihad pledge turns into a rifle shopping list aimed at a Minnesota mall, early disruption is the standard, not the exception, worth defending.
