Federal prosecutors in Minnesota charge man with terrorism after they say he planned to target the Mall of America
by Whitney Wild, Rob Kuznia cnn · KSL.comKEY TAKEAWAYS
- Federal prosecutors charged Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, with terrorism for planning a Mall of America attack.
- Mohamud allegedly admired previous attacks and planned to target the mall on Oct. 24.
- The FBI arrested Mohamud after he purchased an inert AK-47 and live ammunition.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Federal officials in Minnesota have charged a man with terrorism after he planned a shooting at the Mall of America using an AK-47 rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, they said at a news conference Wednesday.
FBI investigators determined Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, planned to attack the nation's largest mall in Bloomington, and appeared to admire other terrorist-related mass casualty events, such as the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia and the New Orleans attack in January 2025, according to a federal complaint.
Mohamud, a resident of the Twin Cities suburb of Richfield, was arrested Tuesday and charged with planning a mass casualty attack in support of ISIS later this month, officials said Wednesday, adding he had wanted to kill as many as 60 people.
"Today's charges demonstrate that the threat of terrorism in support of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations is active and continuing," said Minnesota U.S. attorney Daniel Rosen.
CNN has reached out to Mohamud's attorney for comment.
According to the complaint, Mohamud knowingly received a firearm and ammunition, including a Norinco AK-47 assault rifle and approximately 200 live rounds of ammunition, to commit a felony and a federal crime of terrorism.
In a 23-page affidavit, an FBI agent said the investigation into Mohamud started in December 2024. Over the last 21 months, Mohamud and an undercover source exchanged messages through social media and encrypted messaging applications where Mohamud expressed his desire to travel to Somalia to either join a foreign terrorist organization and fight on its behalf or commit a mass shooting in Minnesota on behalf of a terrorist group.
Rosen said federal agents' attempts to speak with Mohamud's parents about his radicalization in 2025 were rebuffed.
"I just want to say to parents all over Minnesota, for that matter all over America, if you hear from federal law enforcement that your son or daughter is being radicalized to the point where federal law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, those are warnings that ought to be heeded," he said.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges, known for his blunt speech at press events, stood next to Rosen at Wednesday's news conference.
"It's time that we start teaching our young people that this is a great country, and we're not perfect, but this type of hatred for this country is something that I just don't understand," he said. "I'm not normally speechless, but this one I am."
'Chilling' messages
Officials on Wednesday said Mohamud claimed to have joined ISIS a year ago and that they are charging him as a single actor.
"The messages this defendant allegedly sent to others were chilling," said Christopher Dotson, special agent in charge at the FBI in Minneapolis.
Mohamud, who was born in the United States, will be held in custody until his detention hearing on Oct. 19, according to court records. He made his initial appearance in court on Wednesday.
In messages with the undercover source on Telegram, Signal, Discord and TikTok, Mohamud indicated his intention to travel overseas to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab — a designated foreign terrorist organization, the affidavit says. If he couldn't pay for the travel, the affidavit alleges, Mohamud intended to carry out a mass-casualty event in Minnesota.
Federal officials said Mohamud appeared to admire other terrorist-related mass casualty events, such as a vehicle-ramming and shooting attack that killed 14 in New Orleans on New Year's Day 2025 and an antisemitic-inspired shooting that killed 15 people on a beach in Australia in December of that year. Both attacks were inspired by ISIS.
The affidavit alleges Mohamud continued sharing messages for several months after the FBI contacted his parents, including propaganda videos of terrorist organizations. In some of the messages, Mohamud claimed he "wanted to buy a cheap BB gun" for training purposes.
In March 2025, Mohamud allegedly wrote on Telegram, "I wanna save up to go to another country or..get a gun here and just started killing a bunch of white ppl…"
Federal agents speak with the parents
Two months later, FBI agents tried to interview Mohamud at home where he lived with his mother, who said he was at school. Agents then called Mohamud's father from the home; the father said he did not wish to share any information and would provide contact information for an attorney.
This July, Mohamud, who turned 18 in April, concluded he couldn't afford to travel to Somalia, writing "so I will do the attack here," according to the affidavit.
Mohamud allegedly wrote he might buy two pistols and go to the Mall of America or Valleyfair amusement park around Christmas, or he might buy an assault rifle, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit goes on to say Mohamud intended to target the Mall of America; he wrote, "because its owned by Jewish 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."
Federal officials said the undercover source asked Mohamud on Sept. 29 if he really wanted to go through with the attack. Mohamud responded, "yes i am 100% sure."
The arrest
On Tuesday, FBI agents observed Mohamud leave his residence and meet with an undercover FBI employee in the parking lot of a public park in Richfield, just south of Minneapolis, authorities said during the news conference. At the meeting, Mohamud bought the AK-47 rifle, four 30-round capacity magazines and about 200 rounds of ammunition for about $600. Unbeknownst to Mohamud, the AK-47 had been rendered inert, but the ammunition was live, according to the affidavit.
During the meeting in the FBI employee's vehicle, Mohamud described his "own radicalization, explaining that he explored different (foreign terrorist organizations), including al-Shabaab, al Qaeda, and ISIS, before determining that he was supporting ISIS," the affidavit says.
Mohamud then told the FBI undercover employee he planned to conduct a shooting at a festival at the Mall of America on Oct. 24, reiterating he targeted the space because it "was owned by jews." He also expressed a desire to kill non-Muslims and sent the undercover source a link to a Hmong arts celebration at the mall, according to a Department of Justice news release.
The FBI arrested him after he exited the vehicle.
A spokesperson from the Mall of America called the news "unsettling and concerning for our guests, tenants, team members and the broader community."
"We are grateful to the FBI and its law enforcement partners for their vigilance and extraordinary investigative work in identifying, disrupting and removing this threat and protecting the community we all share," they said. "We maintain multiple layers of security, both visible and behind the scenes, and will continue to work closely with local, state and federal law enforcement partners."
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.