FBI foils ISIS plot to massacre 30-60 shoppers at Mall of America after teen buys AK-47 from undercover agent

From the Newshound archive · first published 7 October 2026 · last updated 8 October 2026.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, a US-born citizen of Somali descent, was arrested in Richfield, Minnesota on Tuesday after paying $600 to an undercover FBI employee for an AK-47-style rifle, 200 rounds of ammunition and four magazines. He had allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and told an informant he planned to kill non-Muslims at the Mall of America on 24 October, the date of a Hmong arts celebration he said would draw 'a lot of people'. US Attorney Daniel Rosen said agents disrupted his plan to kill 'maybe 30 to 60 people'. Trump praised the FBI's handling of the case, saying 'they did a great job.'

Mohamud had been on investigators' radars for nearly two years, first contacting a confidential FBI informant in December 2024.

He allegedly told the informant in September: 'I can't wait until I kill kuffar man. October 24 is the day insha Allah.'

Republican Senate candidate Michele Tafoya warned Minnesotans 'feel under a level of threat' amid Somali gang violence, calling November's election a choice between 'law and order or more of the same.'