Federal agents arrested Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud at gunpoint in the Twin Cities after he allegedly took possession of a rifle and ammunition he intended to use in a terrorist attack at the Mall of America.
According to Alpha News, which covered a U.S. Attorney announcement of a significant counterterrorism action in Minnesota on Wednesday, federal authorities have charged Mohamud with plotting a mass-casualty attack in support of ISIS at the Mall of America later this month. He allegedly hoped to kill “30 to 60 people.”
Reports of the federal case identify Mohamud as an 18-year-old Somali “American.”
The criminal complaint and 23-page affidavit of FBI Special Agent Keegan Rupenthal were unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.
Mohamud is charged under 18 U.S.C. § 924(h) with knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition on or about October 6, 2026, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe they would be used to commit a felony and a federal crime of terrorism, including providing, attempting to provide, and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The weapon listed in the complaint is a Norinco AK-47, model Mac-90 Sporter, serial number 94145360, plus roughly 200 live rounds of 7.62×39 ammunition. The FBI rendered the rifle inert before the handoff. The ammunition was live. He never got the chance to use either.
According to the affidavit, the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force opened the case in December 2024 after Mohamud began trading hundreds of messages with a confidential human source on Telegram, Signal, Discord, TikTok, and later SimpleX. Handles included “@misterdoon,” “Mister Miser,” “mistermister,” “misterman240,” and a Discord account named “baaqiyah_31485,” “baaqiyah” being an ISIS slogan meaning the caliphate remains.
The source is described as a paid informant known to the FBI since 2017. Over 21 months Mohamud laid out the plan in his own words.
In January 2025, after Shamsud-Din Jabbar rammed a truck into a New Year’s crowd on Bourbon Street and killed 14 Americans, Mohamud called the attacker a “real muslim” and wrote, “May Allah grant him jannah.” When the source asked how school was going, he answered: “Its terrible man but i gotta keep doing it and if i fail its straight to just killin kuffar. And im already failing so if i dont pass in a yr ill probably save up for a gun.”
In March 2025 he was more explicit: “get a gun here and just start killing a bunch of white ppl (because a lot of white ppl are kuffar).” He said he would “just shoot a club,” but what he really wanted was to “fight in Somalia support the isis in puntland.” He also wrote that if he were jailed he feared being raped, so “if im gonna do it in america i better die in any way other than that.”
In May 2025, FBI agents tried to interview him at the family home. His mother, identified in the affidavit only as A.O. (year of birth 1978), said he was at school and would be back by bus. His father, A.M.W., told agents he would not talk and would hand their card to an attorney. The case kept running.
By December 2025 he was pledging the trip: “When i make hijrah insha Allah i will go to ISIS in somal no matter how tempting going to Al Shabaab is.” He sent Al-Kataib propaganda, al-Shabaab’s media wing, showing fighters, mortars, and the black flag. His Telegram account was banned, he said, because he was “in al shabab channels to watch the videos and news.”
Mall of America. Christmas. Then October 24.
The overseas plan collapsed over money. In July 2026 he told the source, “so i will do attack here,” and “if i do an attack here im not doing it for any worldly matter im doing for the sake of Allah only.”
The targets: “i might buy two pist. ols online and go to malll of america or valley fair on Minnesota on christmas time.” He broke up the word “pistols,” the affidavit notes, the way suspects try to dodge platform filters.
He then zeroed in on the Mall of America “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 figured an assault rifle and “260 ammo” could kill “maybe 30-60 people insha Allah.” A bomb, he said, was “too complicated.” He would “drive straight to the crowded place and start shooting.”
He described himself to the source as a “5’11 dark somali guy” who would be “wearing green jacket,” and sent photos, one in a blue polo with a “Parking Patroller” logo, another in a black balaclava.
In September he moved the date. “I can’t wait until I kill kuffar man. October 24 is the day insha Allah.” The draw, he said, was a “Hmong Arts Celebration” at the mall: “yeah it’s a bunch of asians [sic] Chinese Vietnamese and other kuffar celebrating. it will be a lot of people.”
He told the source he had watched the Omar Mateen Pulse nightclub video and “i think i can do the same thing omar matteen did. i just walk in and shoot.” Mateen used 30-round magazines. Mohamud said he was “not complaining.”
He filmed a bay’ah, a pledge of allegiance, on what he said was his little brother’s iPad, face covered with a red-and-white keffiyeh, swearing loyalty to ISIS caliph Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. The caption: “i made the video so dawlah know that i do attack, i give my allegiance to amir al mu’mineen Abu Hafs al Qurayshi.”
When the source pressed him on whether he was sure, Mohamud answered: “wallahi i want to do this, i am very serious i don’t care about anything in this world, i am 100% commited [sic] to the cause of dying for the sake of Allah only.” He said he had about $600 total, including “100 bucks for ammo,” and sent a video counting out $601 in cash.
On October 6, surveillance watched him leave his residence and meet the man he believed was the ISIS brother the source had introduced.
It was an FBI undercover employee. Inside a vehicle, audio- and video-recorded, Mohamud paid $600 cash. The agent counted it in front of him, confirmed he wanted an “AK,” and Mohamud said he did.
The agent told him he was an active member of ISIS and asked about the plan. Mohamud said he had looked at al-Shabaab, al Qaeda, and ISIS and settled on ISIS.
He said he would shoot a “kuffar festival” at the Mall of America, that part of the motive was Jewish ownership of the mall, and that he was angry about the treatment of Muslims after a May 18, 2026 shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego that killed three people.
He planned to wait nearby so his mother would not be home when he returned with the rifle.
He stepped out of the vehicle with the duffel bag. The FBI arrested him at gunpoint.
The post Another ISIS Sympathizer in Tim Walz’s Minnesota: FBI Arrests an 18-Year-Old Somali Suspect at Gunpoint After Plotting a Mass-Casualty Attack at Mall of America appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
