FBI arrests man accused of plotting Mall of America attack

US authorities have arrested an 18-year-old accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at the Mall of America in Minnesota, after he allegedly took delivery of an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition from an FBI source, Punch reports.

Sheikhdoon Mohamud was taken into custody on Tuesday, according to newly unsealed court records cited by ABC News. Prosecutors say he planned to attack a festival at the mall.

The FBI had monitored him since December 2024, when a confidential source began chatting with him about either travelling to Somalia to fight for al-Shabaab or carrying out an attack in the US.

By December 2025, court documents say, he had voiced support for ISIS and dropped the overseas plan. Prosecutors say he chose the mall because he believed it was owned by Jewish people, and that he drew inspiration from the New Orleans New Year’s Eve attacker and Omar Mateen, the 2016 Pulse nightclub gunman.

He allegedly agreed to buy the weapons on October 6 and floated October 24 for the attack, targeting the Hmong Arts Celebration.

At the meeting, an undercover agent handed him a duffel bag containing the rifle, four magazines and the ammunition. Agents arrested him at gunpoint after he stepped out of his vehicle.

US attorney Dan Rosen said Mohamud is believed to be a US-born citizen. He added that FBI agents visited the suspect’s parents in 2025 over extremist material he was sharing online, but were rebuffed. Rosen urged parents to heed such warnings.

FBI special agent Christopher Dodson said the messages showed Mohamud was “100% committed” to an attack.