The FBI thwarted an alleged terror attack at Minnesota’s Mall of America after an 18-year-old suspect agreed to buy an AK-47 rifle and ammunition from an undercover agent, US authorities said Wednesday.Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud was arrested Tuesday in a public park in Richfield after paying $600 for a Norinco AK-47 and about 200 rounds of ammunition, according to a federal criminal complaint. The undercover FBI employee was posing as a member of ISIS, according to news agency AP.Mohamud is accused of planning to attack the mall in Bloomington on October 24, when a Hmong arts celebration was scheduled to take place. In messages exchanged with an FBI confidential informant, he repeatedly expressed his intention to kill non-Muslims at the shopping centre, according to the complaint.US Attorney Daniel Rosen said the FBI had detected and disrupted the alleged plan before Mohamud could carry it out.“This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched,” Rosen said, praising the investigation. Agents “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.”
Teen had been under FBI investigation since 2024
The FBI first became aware of Mohamud in December 2024, the same month the confidential source began exchanging messages with him, according to the complaint. By May 2025, agents had become concerned enough to visit his home.Mohamud’s mother told investigators that he had not yet returned from school and contacted his father. His father declined to speak to the agents and said he would provide their contact details to his lawyer, the complaint said.Mohamud later expressed admiration for recent terror attacks and an interest in travelling to Somalia to join ISIS.He ultimately decided he could not afford the trip and instead planned to attack the Mall of America, the complaint said.As per CNN, court records also described Mohamud as appearing to admire other terrorist-related mass-casualty attacks, including the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia and the New Orleans attack in January 2025.
Arrest followed purchase of rifle and ammunition
Federal officials said Mohamud knowingly received the firearm and ammunition to commit a felony and a federal crime of terrorism, according to the complaint.He appeared in federal court in St Paul on Wednesday wearing a yellow jail uniform. It was not immediately known whether he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf, and AP said it could not immediately identify family members for comment.Rosen said Mohamud is an American-born US citizen of Somali descent. He also urged parents to take seriously any indication that their children may be becoming radicalised.“What I would say to parents all over Minnesota, and all over America: If you get any indication — especially 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,” Rosen said.Tens of thousands of people of Somali descent live in Minnesota, with refugees beginning to arrive in the state in the 1990s. Several people from the community have been charged over the years with attempting to join ISIS or other terror groups.Mohamud has been charged with planning a mass-casualty attack in support of ISIS later this month.
