An 18-year-old was arrested in an FBI sting after allegedly buying an AK-47 to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at the Mall of America, prosecutors say.
Federal agents took Sheikhdoon Mohamud into custody at gunpoint Tuesday after he exited a vehicle following an undercover weapons handoff in Minnesota, newly unsealed court records show.
ABC News reported that prosecutors accuse the American-born 18-year-old of planning a mass casualty attack at the Mall of America, with a target date tied to a public festival later in October.
U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Dan Rosen said the arrest capped a long-running law enforcement and intelligence operation that stopped the defendant before he could act on stated plans to kill dozens of people.
The case fits a broader pattern of FBI work against ISIS-inspired plots on high-profile American targets, including recent cases such as an Albany woman charged in an alleged ISIS-inspired Capitol bombing scheme.
Messages showed a shift from overseas fight talk to a U.S. attack
Investigators opened the case in December 2024. A confidential FBI source began exchanging messages with Mohamud about traveling to Somalia to fight for al-Shabaab or launching a mass casualty attack on U.S. soil.
By December 2025, court records state, Mohamud expressed interest in supporting ISIS and moved away from overseas travel talk toward an attack inside the United States. Prosecutors say the communications ran into the scores and showed him “100% committed.”
He allegedly discussed hopes of martyrdom and talked about getting a “gun here and just start killing a bunch of white ppl.” Officials later said he drew inspiration from the New Orleans New Year’s Eve attacker and Omar Mateen, the Pulse Nightclub shooter.
FBI Special Agent Christopher Dodson described the tone of those exchanges in blunt terms.
"The messages this defendant allegedly sent to others were chilling."
Dodson added that the messages showed idolization of ideologically motivated violence, disregard for human life, hatred of people of other faiths, and a cold commitment to carrying out violence in the community.
Mall of America became the chosen target
Mohamud allegedly told the source he wanted to hit the Mall of America “because its owned by jewish” people, adding, “so if I kill even 30 people noone would go there anymore.” Rosen said the complaint alleges the defendant spoke of killing “maybe 30 to 60 people.”
Part of the stated motive, according to the affidavit, was anger at what he called the “bad treatment of Muslims” after a May attack on an Islamic Center in San Diego. The mall sits in Bloomington, Minnesota, and draws huge crowds year-round.
By August he was planning a meetup to buy an AK-47 and ammunition and sent pictures of himself so the source could recognize him. He settled on an Oct. 6 meetup and suggested an Oct. 24 attack timed to the Hmong Arts Celebration at the mall.
Similar FBI disruptions have stopped other ISIS-linked schemes before they reached the execution stage, including when the FBI arrested an Albany woman accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired bombing of the New York State Capitol.
Undercover handoff ended with agents at gunpoint
During the Oct. 6 meetup, an undercover agent handed Mohamud a large duffel bag holding an AK-47 rifle and four magazines, plus a container with 200 rounds of ammunition. The agent told Mohamud he was a member of ISIS. Mohamud again expressed intent to carry out a shooting at a festival at the mall, the affidavit says.
When he left the vehicle, FBI agents took him into custody at gunpoint. No attack occurred. The plot was disrupted before any shots were fired at the mall.
Rosen framed the outcome as proof that federal agents are doing the job the public expects.
"The American people and the citizens of Minnesota should know from yesterday's arrest -- which was the culmination of an outstanding law enforcement and intelligence operation -- that federal law enforcement is standing up to their calling to protect us."
He continued:
"Here, because of their vigilance and diligence, they were able to detect the threat and disrupt it before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, 'maybe 30 to 60 people,' as we allege in far greater detail in the complaint."
That same focus on early disruption has marked other recent terrorism cases, from a Texas DPS and FBI arrest over a planned attack on a state Capitol to federal prison terms for ISIS support plots aimed at Jewish communities.
Parents got a warning and turned agents away
Rosen said Mohamud is believed to be an American citizen born in the United States. The criminal complaint refers to Somalia as the homeland of his parents.
In 2025, after an alert about Mohamud sharing extremist material online, the FBI went to his house to try to speak with his parents. Officials say they were rebuffed. Rosen used the moment to deliver a direct message to families.
"I just would say to parents all over Minnesota -- for that matter, all over America: If you get the indication, especially if you hear from federal law enforcement that your son or daughter is being radicalized to the point where federal law law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, those are warnings that ought to be heeded."
The complaint does not detail the exact online material that triggered the home visit, and specific charging statutes were not listed in the initial public reporting. Custody status and next court dates also were not detailed in the unsealed materials described so far.
What is clear is the sequence: years of messaging, a shift to a domestic attack plan, a concrete weapons buy, a chosen public festival, and an arrest before the date he allegedly selected. Federal agents stopped a mass-casualty plan aimed at a crowded American mall. That is the job working as designed.
When radicalization shows up in a teenager’s messages and parents slam the door on a federal warning, the public pays the price if the next plot is not caught in time.
