Minnesota man accused of planning Mall of America attack

Federal agents arrested an 18-year-old Minnesota man after he allegedly paid an undercover employee for an assault rifle and ammunition as part of a plan to attack Mall of America, authorities said Wednesday. Prosecutors said Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud had discussed killing as many as 30 to 60 people.

Mohamud, a Twin Cities resident and U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday at a park in Richfield. A federal criminal complaint charges him with obtaining a firearm to carry out an act of terrorism. The Guardian reported that he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of the Islamic State for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition. According to the complaint, he had left the employee’s vehicle carrying the rifle, four magazines and the ammunition when agents arrested him.

“They 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,” Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said at a news conference.

The complaint describes hundreds of messages exchanged between Mohamud and an FBI informant across social media and encrypted applications from December 2024 until his arrest. In those exchanges, authorities allege, Mohamud initially wanted to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabaab and fight on its behalf. In July, he told the informant he could not afford the trip and would attack in the United States instead.

Mohamud discussed Mall of America in Bloomington and Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee as possible targets, according to the complaint. He allegedly said he wanted to attack the mall “because it’s owned by Jewish.” Prosecutors said he cited last year’s deadly antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, as one inspiration.

Last month, Mohamud told the informant he wanted to attack the mall during the Hmong Arts Celebration on Oct. 24 because “it will be a lot of people,” court documents say. He also wrote that he had watched video of the 2016 attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. “I just walk in and shoot,” he wrote, according to the complaint. Authorities say he sent the informant a video pledging allegiance to ISIS.

The Guardian reported that Mohamud wrote to the informant, “I wanna get martyred inshallah,” and described a choice between traveling abroad and getting a gun locally to kill people. CBS News reported that the FBI contacted his parents in May 2025 about concerns that he was becoming radicalized, but Rosen said the parents rebuffed agents’ attempts to speak with them.

FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dotson called the alleged messages “chilling” and said they showed a commitment to violence. Authorities allege Mohamud received the firearm and ammunition with reason to believe they would be used to commit a felony and a federal terrorism crime, including providing or conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.