18-Year-Old Charged Over Alleged ISIS-Linked Plot to Attack Mall of America Hmong Arts Celebration

Federal prosecutors charged an 18-year-old Minnesota man after alleging he plotted an ISIS-linked mass shooting at the Mall of America in Bloomington, targeting a public cultural event scheduled there for Oct. 24, according to the Justice Department and a federal criminal complaint.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, of Richfield, Minnesota, was charged by complaint with one count of knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition with reason to believe they would be used to commit a federal crime of terrorism, the Justice Department said. The FBI arrested him on Oct. 6, 2026, and he made his initial appearance Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright. The details of the case come from an unsealed criminal complaint, which sets out allegations used to establish probable cause.

According to the complaint, prosecutors say Mohamud discussed carrying out a mass-casualty shooting at the Mall of America beginning in July 2026 and continuing through August and September. The complaint alleges he identified Oct. 24, 2026, as his planned attack date and singled out the mall’s Hmong Arts Celebration as the event he intended to target.

Prosecutors said the FBI on Oct. 6 arranged a controlled transaction in which an undercover FBI employee or confidential source delivered an inert AK-47-style rifle, four 30-round magazines and about 200 rounds of 7.62x39-caliber ammunition. Mohamud allegedly paid about $600 in cash during the transaction and was arrested shortly afterward, according to the complaint.

The complaint says the FBI investigation began in or about December 2024. Over roughly 21 months, Mohamud and a confidential human source exchanged hundreds of messages across multiple platforms, according to prosecutors. The complaint also alleges Mohamud expressed support for ISIS and sent propaganda videos and a selfie-style video pledging allegiance to the group.

Prosecutors further allege Mohamud chose the mall in part because he believed it was “owned by Jews,” and that he said he wanted to “kill 30 to 60 people so no one would go there.” Those statements are quoted in the complaint as part of prosecutors’ description of his alleged motive and intended scale of harm.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bloomington Police Department, with assistance from IRS Criminal Investigation, the Justice Department said. Mall of America is one of the largest malls in the United States, giving the alleged plot significance beyond Minnesota, and the Hmong Arts Celebration cited in the complaint was listed on the mall’s public event calendar for Oct. 24, making the alleged target a specific public gathering rather than a vague threat. The charged firearm offense, under 18 U.S.C. § 924(h), carries a statutory maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Mohamud has been charged, not convicted. As the Justice Department said in announcing the case, “A complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”