Federal prosecutors charged Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, in an alleged ISIS-inspired plot to open fire at the Mall of America.

A complaint is the government's version, filed to support an arrest. It is not an indictment, and it is not a verdict. The charge itself is narrow: receiving a gun and ammunition for a terrorism crime. The rifle was inert and the seller worked for the FBI. Nearly everything the public knows about the alleged plan comes from messages to a confidential source over almost two years. Those messages are the case. How those conversations unfolded is what a court will test.

U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen announced Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, that Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, of Richfield, Minnesota, was charged by complaint with one count of knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition in order to commit a federal crime of terrorism. The FBI arrested him on Oct. 6, and he made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright on Oct. 7, the office said. MPR News reported that in court Mohamud told the judge he understood the charge and that he has no job, no car, and no money, and that a preliminary hearing was set for 10 a.m. Oct. 19. A complaint starts a federal case. A grand jury has not returned an indictment.

According to the complaint as the U.S. Attorney's Office described it, beginning around December 2024 Mohamud exchanged hundreds of messages with a confidential source across several social media and messaging apps. He allegedly said he wanted to travel to Somalia to fight for a designated foreign terrorist organization, and that if he could not afford the trip he would carry out a mass-casualty attack in Minnesota in support of ISIS. In July 2026, the office said, he wrote about attacking the Mall of America because he claimed it was owned by Jews, and said he wanted to kill 30 to 60 people. FOX 9 quoted a message from the charges in which he allegedly wrote, "I'll just go grab assault rifle, bomb too complicated, kill maybe 30-60 people." The office said he sent a selfie-style video pledging allegiance to ISIS, named the Pulse nightclub shooting, the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia, and the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans as models, and identified Oct. 24 as a date, sending a link to a Hmong Arts Celebration at the mall. Those are allegations in a charging document.

On Oct. 6, the office said, the FBI arranged for an undercover employee to sell Mohamud an AK-47 rifle, four 30-round magazines, and about 200 rounds of ammunition. The FBI rendered the rifle inert before the sale. He paid about $600 cash and was arrested shortly after he had the items, and the office said he reaffirmed his plan during the sale. MPR News reported the handoff was in the parking lot of a public park in Richfield and that agents arrested him at gunpoint after he left the vehicle. FOX 9 reported that agents tried to interview him at home in May 2025, when he had recently turned 17, and that his father told them to talk to an attorney. Rosen said authorities did not believe his parents understood the extent of his radicalization, FOX 9 reported. MPR News reported Rosen said Mohamud was born in the United States, acted alone, and is not gang affiliated.

FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dotson called him "100-percent committed" to the alleged plot, MPR News reported. FBI Director Kash Patel said in the release that the bureau "likely saved lives." In a statement MPR News published, the Mall of America said it maintains "multiple layers of security, both visible and behind the scenes." The office said the case was investigated by the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Bloomington Police Department, with help from IRS Criminal Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Ryan White of the National Security Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar. Officials' descriptions are the prosecution's view of the evidence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.