An 18-year-old man accused of telling an FBI informant that he planned to carry out an attack later this month at the Mall of America was arrested at gunpoint Tuesday in Richfield, Minn., during a meeting to purchase an assault rifle, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Wednesday.
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and Minneapolis FBI Special Agent Christopher Dotson discussed the case involving Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, a Twin Cities resident and U.S. citizen, during a news conference Wednesday afternoon, during which Rosen praised the FBI for its “diligence” in thwarting the attack.
“They were able to detect a threat and neutralize it before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, between 30 and 60 people,” Rosen said.
In the complaint, authorities say a “confidential human source” exchanged “hundreds of two-way messages via multiple social media and encrypted messaging apps” with Mohamud from December 2024 through Tuesday. During these exchanges, Mohamud allegedly “expressed his desire to travel to Somalia” to join al-Shabaab and “fight on its behalf and/or carry out a mass casualty attack” in Minnesota.
“The messages this defendant allegedly sent to others were frightening. They document the idolization of ideologically motivated violence, a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life, a blind hatred toward people of other faiths, and a cold commitment to implementing his vision of violence in our community,” Dotson said. “Mohamud would have sought martyrdom by carrying out his plans to assassinate innocent civilians.”
The complaint says the FBI contacted Mohamud’s parents in May 2025, but they were uncooperative.
“The FBI attempted to speak with his parents after observing that this young man was becoming radicalized, and those attempts were rebuffed by the parents,” Rosen said. “I would just say to parents across Minnesota and, for that matter, across America, if you get the 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, heed those warnings.”
In July, Mohamud told an informant that he did not have enough money to travel to Somalia, according to the complaint. He reportedly said he would attack the United States instead, and that if he did, he would not do it “for any worldly matter” but “for the love of Allah only.”
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Mohamud then allegedly said in a direct message to the source that he was planning to carry out an attack at the Mall of America in Bloomington or the Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee. An FBI affidavit says he wrote that he could first purchase two guns online.
The complaint says Mohamud said he wanted to attack the mall “because it is owned by Jews.” He said he was inspired in part by last year’s deadly anti-Semitic attack on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.
Last month, Mohamud told the source he wanted to carry out an attack on the mall during the Hmong Arts Celebration on Oct. 24, saying “it would be very crowded,” according to court documents.
In another post last month, the affidavit says Mohamud wrote that he had watched a video of the 2016 attack at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Floridaand thought he could do the same.
“I go in and shoot,” Mohamud wrote, according to the complaint.
Court documents also indicate that Mohamud sent the source a video on Discord in which he allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS.
On Tuesday, Mohamud was arrested during a meeting arranged with the source in the parking lot of a Richfield park, according to Rosen. The affidavit says he left an undercover employee’s vehicle with the rifle, four magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition when he was arrested. The filing describes the weapon as a Norinco AK-47 assault rifle, Mac-90 Sporter model, and the ammunition as approximately 200 live rounds of 7.62×39 caliber.
“They became aware that this was a radicalized young man who needed to be monitored and, in fact, in this young man’s case, the radicalization progressed to the point where he planned in the most serious way possible a mass casualty attack,” Rosen said.
Authorities say Mohamud “knowingly received a firearm and ammunition” with reasonable grounds to believe they would be used to commit a felony and a federal crime of terrorism, including providing or conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
This story will be updated.
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