As of about 1:20 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged an 18-year-old Richfield man, Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, with receiving a firearm and ammunition in order to commit a federal crime of terrorism, after the FBI says he paid an undercover employee for a rifle that had been made inert, in what the complaint describes as a plan to shoot people at the Mall of America.
The charge is an allegation, and none of what is described below about the defendant has been tested in court.
What the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced
In a press release announced Oct. 7, 2026, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen announced that Mohamud, 18, of Richfield, Minnesota, “was charged today 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. He made his initial appearance on Oct. 7 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright. MPR News, in a story published Oct. 7, reported that the appearance took place in federal court in St. Paul, and that, responding to the judge’s questions, Mohamud said he understood what he has been charged with.
CBS Minnesota reported that authorities allege Mohamud “knowingly received a firearm and ammunition” with reasonable cause 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. That second part is CBS Minnesota’s description of the charge; the Justice Department release does not use those words.
The release closes with a standard line: “A complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
What the complaint alleges, in order
According to the complaint, as summarized in the Justice Department release, the contact began in or about December 2024. Mohamud exchanged hundreds of messages through multiple social media and messaging applications with a confidential source. He allegedly said he wanted to travel to Somalia to join a designated foreign terrorist organization and fight on its behalf; CBS Minnesota, quoting the complaint, reported that the group he named was al-Shabaab. He also allegedly said that if a lack of funds kept him from traveling overseas, he planned a mass-casualty event in Minnesota in support of ISIS. MPR News, citing the complaint, reported that the FBI had been investigating him since December 2024.
CBS Minnesota reported that the complaint says the FBI contacted Mohamud’s parents in May 2025, but they were not cooperative. At the Oct. 7 news conference, as CBS Minnesota quoted him, Rosen said: “The FBI attempted to speak with his parents having seen that this young man was becoming radicalized, and those attempts were rebuffed by the parents.” “Becoming radicalized” is Rosen’s characterization, and the reports quoted here carry no comment from the parents.
In July 2026, the release says, he sent messages about carrying out a mass-casualty shooting at the Mall of America. According to the release, he claimed the mall was owned by Jews, and he wrote that he wanted to kill 30 to 60 people so no one would go there. MPR News reported that he allegedly told the source he did not have enough money to travel to Somalia and wrote, “I will prepare here in America.” MPR News also reported that he told the source he would buy two pistols and go to Valley Fair or the Mall of America during Christmastime. CBS Minnesota reported that the affidavit says he wrote that he might buy two pistols online first, and that he considered an attack at the Mall of America in Bloomington or at Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee. The reports do not reconcile the Christmastime remark with the Oct. 24 date described below.
In August and September 2026, the release says, he kept sending messages about his intentions, including plans to buy a firearm and to recruit others to join him. The sources do not say anyone else was recruited, and Rosen said at the news conference that Mohamud acted alone. The release says he sent a selfie-style video of himself pledging allegiance to ISIS. It also says he stated that he wanted to commit an attack similar to the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia and the New Year’s Day vehicle-ramming attack in New Orleans.
In September 2026, according to the release, he identified Oct. 24 as the date of his planned attack. MPR News described Oct. 24 as one date mentioned as a possible time for the attack. When the source asked whether there was a big gathering that day, the release says, he indicated that many of the people celebrating at the mall would be Asian and other non-Muslims, and sent a link to a “Hmong Arts Celebration” there. MPR News reported that he told the source there “will be a lot of people.”
The Oct. 6 undercover sale
The release says that on Oct. 6 the FBI arranged for an undercover FBI employee to sell Mohamud an AK-47 assault rifle, four 30-round magazines and approximately 200 rounds of ammunition. It states plainly: “The FBI rendered the AK-47 rifle inert prior to the transaction.” The release says that of the rifle only. CBS Minnesota, citing the filing, described the weapon as a Norinco AK-47 assault rifle, model Mac-90 Sporter, and the ammunition as about 200 live rounds of 7.62×39-caliber.
According to the release, the FBI arrested him shortly after he paid about $600 cash and had the items in his possession. It says he reaffirmed, during the sale, his plan to use the firearm and ammunition to shoot people at the Mall of America. MPR News and CBS Minnesota reported that he was arrested at gunpoint.
MPR News reported that the sale took place in the parking lot of a public park in Richfield.
What officials said
At a news conference in Minneapolis on Oct. 7, as MPR News and CBS Minnesota reported, Rosen and FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dotson described the case. Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges was also there, according to MPR News.
Rosen said, in the Justice Department release: “As alleged in the criminal complaint, Mohamud took substantial steps to plot to murder innocent people in the name of ISIS.” At the news conference he said Mohamud acted alone and is not gang affiliated, and that Mohamud is a U.S. citizen born in the United States, according to MPR News. CBS Minnesota quoted him saying investigators “were able to detect a threat and disrupt it before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people.”
Dotson said Mohamud was “100-percent committed” to the alleged plot and, MPR News reported, that because Mohamud could not travel abroad to fight for ISIS, he allegedly wanted to fight in Minnesota.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in the release: “This individual allegedly obtained a weapon he hoped to use in a mass casualty attack in support of ISIS, but this FBI arrested him and put a stop to his plans.”
“Mohamud allegedly sought to carry out a mass-casualty shooting at the Mall of America, expressing a desire to emulate some of the most horrific ISIS-inspired attacks in the United States, including the atrocities at Pulse Nightclub and 2025 New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the same release.
The mall’s and the festival organizer’s statements
MPR News, on Oct. 7, quoted a Mall of America statement issued in response to the arrest. The mall said it maintains “multiple layers of security, both visible and behind the scenes, and will continue to work closely with local, state and federal law enforcement partners.”
CBS Minnesota quoted a second statement from the mall: “We are grateful to the FBI and its law enforcement partners for their vigilance and extraordinary investigative work in identifying, disrupting and removing this threat and protecting the community we all share. The safety and security of everyone who visits and works at Mall of America has always been our highest priority.”
FOX 9 described the Hmong Arts Celebration as a family-friendly cultural festival in its second year. In a statement reported by FOX 9 on Oct. 7, event organizer Lue Thao said, “It was heartbreaking and emotional to hear the news of the alleged planned attack at the Mall Of America.” Thao’s statement describes him as an organizer preparing to bring the Hmong Arts Celebration back on October 24, and it says he is grateful to the FBI and local law enforcement.
Who investigated and who is prosecuting
The Justice Department release says the case was the result of an investigation by the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bloomington Police Department, with assistance from IRS Criminal Investigation.
It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Ryan White of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar for the District of Minnesota.
What has not happened, and what is not known
No attack took place: by the officials’ account the FBI arrested him before any shooting, and none of the reports names anyone hurt.
The complaint itself, which the Justice Department posted publicly, is case No. 26-mj-760 (ECW) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. It is a single count, sworn on Oct. 7 by FBI Special Agent Keegan Rupenthal before Magistrate Judge Wright, charging that on or about Oct. 6 in Hennepin County Mohamud received an AK-47-type rifle and approximately 200 rounds of ammunition while knowing or having reasonable cause 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, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(h) with reference to 18 U.S.C. § 2339B.
On custody, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported on Oct. 7 that Mohamud was appointed a federal defender and ordered to remain jailed ahead of an Oct. 19 detention hearing, at which a judge will determine his custody status ahead of trial. MPR News reported that a preliminary hearing was set for 10 a.m. on Oct. 19.
As of about 1:20 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, no plea, no name of a defense lawyer and no statement of the maximum penalty had been reported in the Justice Department release, the complaint or the news reports quoted here. Those details may emerge as the case moves forward in federal court.