FBI arrests teen in alleged ISIS-backed mass shooting plot at Mall of America

The FBI has arrested an 18-year-old Minnesota man over what authorities describe as an ISIS-inspired plot to carry out a mass shooting at the Mall of America. Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud of Richfield was arrested October 6 and charged the next day with receiving a firearm to commit federal terrorism.

According to the Justice Department, Mohamud pledged allegiance to ISIS and bought an AK-47 and about 200 rounds of ammunition from an undercover FBI employee for 600 dollars. Investigators say he planned to attack a Hmong arts event at the Mall of America on October 24, aiming to kill between 30 and 60 people. He allegedly told investigators he chose the mall because its owners were Jewish, a claim authorities report as his stated motive. The investigation had been running since December 2024, nearly two years of watching before the arrest.

FBI Director Kash Patel credited the bureau's Minneapolis field office for stopping the attack before it happened. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen called the threat "active and continuing," language that underscored how seriously the department treats the case.

The case carries two uncomfortable facts at once. It is a genuine counterterrorism success: a planned mass casualty attack, watched, infiltrated, and disrupted with the weapons never reaching a target. And it is also the second major case this week in which authorities describe antisemitic targeting, days after a man fired shots near a synagogue on Yom Kippur in Toronto. The through line is not complicated. Jihadist ideology and antisemitic hatred are not separate currents here; in this plot they are the same current, and the intended victims, a Hmong cultural gathering at a shopping mall, show how such plots rarely stay confined to one community.

Mohamud is in federal custody. If convicted on the terrorism charge, he faces a lengthy prison sentence. The investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney's office, remains active.