Federal authorities say an 18-year-old man who once expressed interest in joining ISIS in Somalia was preparing to carry out a mass shooting at Minnesota’s Mall of America.
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud was arrested Tuesday at a public park in Richfield, shortly after allegedly purchasing an AK-47, 200 rounds of ammunition and four 30-round magazines from an undercover FBI employee.
Mohamud appeared in federal court in St. Paul on Wednesday for his initial hearing, wearing a yellow jail uniform.
“This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched,” U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said.
Investigators had been monitoring Mohamud for nearly two years. He began communicating with a confidential informant in December 2024 and allegedly declared his intention to launch a mass-casualty attack in the United States. Agents later sold him the rifle and ammunition as part of the investigation.
Mohamud, an American-born U.S. citizen of Somali descent, allegedly spoke of his hatred for non-Muslims and discussed joining an Islamist extremist organization, according to authorities.
The Department of Justice said he considered joining al Qaeda and al-Shabaab before ultimately expressing support for the Islamic State.
In text messages with the FBI informant, Mohamud allegedly repeatedly described plans to attack non-Muslims at the Mall of America on October 24, when a Hmong arts celebration was scheduled to take place, according to the criminal complaint.
Rosen said the investigation may have prevented a devastating loss of life. Agents, he explained, “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.”
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, was arrested Tuesday at a public park in Richfield, several miles northwest of the Mall of America, after allegedly paying $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as an ISIS member for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.
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Mohamud is accused of planning a terrorist attack at the Mall of America after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.
When asked about his motive, Mohamud allegedly told the informant he wanted to target the Mall of America “because its owned by Jewish” people. He added that if he killed “even 30 people,” no one would go there anymore.
He also pointed to an attack on an Islamic center in San Diego as an influence, saying he was “angry at the bad treatment of Muslims,” according to the complaint.
Rosen and FBI Special Agent Christopher Dodson described a large volume of communications between Mohamud and the informant. In one exchange, he allegedly discussed his hopes of becoming a martyr and wrote about getting a “gun here and just start killing a bunch of white ppl.”
Investigators said Mohamud also cited Omar Mateen, the gunman responsible for the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, as an inspiration for his alleged plans.
Rosen said the FBI went to Mohamud’s home in 2025 after learning that he was distributing extremist material online. Agents attempted to speak with his parents and defuse the situation, but the effort was rebuffed.
Rosen and Dodson said the volume and content of the messages indicated that Mohamud was “100% committed” to carrying out an attack.
“The messages this defendant allegedly sent to others were chilling,” Dodson said. He added that they reflected “the idolization of ideologically motivated violence, a callous disregard for the sanctity of human life, a blind hatred of people of other faiths, and a cold commitment to carrying out his vision of violence in our community.”
This is a breaking news story.
