FBI arrests Minnesota teen who allegedly plotted Mall of America massacre to ‘harm the Jew’

Federal agents arrested an 18-year-old Minnesota man after he allegedly bought an assault rifle from an undercover FBI agent to carry out an antisemitic massacre at the Mall of America.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, an American-born U.S. citizen of Somali descent, paid $600 for a Chinese-made Norinco AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition, then walked into handcuffs in a public park, according to a New York Post report on the federal case.

Prosecutors say the teen spent nearly two years messaging a confidential FBI source on TikTok and Signal about killing dozens of people at the largest shopping center in the United States because he believed Jews owned it. He appeared Wednesday in a yellow jail uniform for his initial hearing in federal court in St. Paul.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen praised the bureau for stopping the plot before shoppers paid the price.

"This was a radicalized young man who needed to be watched,"

Rosen said, adding that 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.”

Messages laid out a body count and a target date

Court papers describe Mohamud telling the informant he wanted to “harm the Jew” and attack the Mall of America on Oct. 24. He framed the massacre as payback and as a way to empty the mall for good.

"because its owned by jewish [sic] 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."

He dismissed a bomb as too complicated and settled on a rifle.

"I’ll just go grab assault rifle bomb is too complicated kill maybe 30-60 people insha Allah and have 260 ammo,"

The complaint states he repeatedly affirmed his plan to strike non-Muslims in the Twin Cities region. He also voiced support for the U.S.-designated terror group al-Shabaab and interest in joining ISIS in Somalia, then decided he could not afford the trip and would hit the mall instead.

Undercover sale closed the case

An undercover FBI agent posed as an ISIS member and sold Mohamud the Norinco rifle and ammunition for $600. Agents moved in and arrested him Tuesday in a public park after the handoff. No completed attack occurred. No injuries were reported. The plot ended at the point of sale.

Federal work of this kind is not new. The same agency arrested a heavily armed man near a Trump golf course ahead of a presidential visit, another reminder that preemptive enforcement still matters when threats surface early.

Parents got a knock. The warnings stopped there.

Mohamud first drew FBI attention in December 2024, the same month the confidential source began messaging him. By May 2025, agents went to the family home. His mother said he was not back from school yet and called the father. The father declined to speak and said he would pass the agents’ contact information to his lawyer.

Rosen directed a blunt message at parents in Minnesota and beyond.

"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,"

Tens of thousands of people of Somali descent live in Minnesota. The case does not indict a community. It does show what happens when radical ideology finds a young man willing to buy a rifle and name a body count.

Two years of chat, then a park arrest

Investigators tracked the conversation for almost two years while Mohamud talked up ISIS, al-Shabaab, and foreign attacks. He admired the Bondi Beach killings in Australia and cast his own plan in the same language. When travel to Somalia looked too expensive, the mall became the substitute target.

That pattern of online radicalization and real-world weapons intent has shown up in other high-stakes FBI files, including records on Thomas Crooks and mystery contacts about 3D-printed parts. The lesson is consistent: digital talk plus a gun purchase is the moment law enforcement has to act.

Specific statutes and a docket number were not detailed in the initial reporting. Legal representation status at the first hearing was also unclear. What is clear is the sequence: online intent, undercover buy, arrest, and a courtroom appearance in jail clothes the next day.

Federal cases keep landing when agents stay on the trail. From a mayor charged with looting pandemic funds to an alleged $32 million COVID fraud fugitive hauled back from Jamaica, the pattern is the same, follow the evidence, make the arrest, put the defendant in court.

Softness on early warning signs is how malls, schools, and crowds become targets. Hard policing and parents who answer the door are how plots die in a park instead of a food court.

Americans should not need a near-miss at the Mall of America to remember that radicalization is not a lifestyle choice and that “harm the Jew” is a threat, not a grievance.