FBI says planned Mall of America attack was stopped

On October 7, the FBI said it had prevented a possible terrorist attack at Bloomington, Minnesota’s Mall of America and detained 18-year-old Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud over an alleged scheme to conduct a mass shooting there.¹²³

Arrest and alleged plot

The Guardian reported that Mohamud was taken into custody on a single charge alleging that he acquired a firearm for use in a terrorist act. The Mall of America is in Bloomington, near Minneapolis, and was described in the dossier as the planned target.¹

The Straits Times and The Jerusalem Post also reported that the arrest concerned an alleged mass-shooting plot at the Mall of America. The Jerusalem Post’s framing said Mohamud was allegedly planning to join ISIS.²³

The Guardian reported that the FBI had investigated Mohamud for nearly two years. It said messages involving a confidential informant from December 2024 indicated that he had first sought to join terrorist organisations abroad, including al-Shabaab, before allegedly turning to a plan in Minnesota after those efforts failed.¹

Undercover operation

According to The Guardian, Mohamud gave an undercover FBI employee, posing as an Islamic State member, $600 in exchange for an AK-47 and 200 ammunition rounds. The dossier also says he allegedly bought four magazines with a 30-round capacity.¹

According to the same report, Mohamud was recorded by mall security cameras walking through the complex and later allegedly robbed a Lids store at gunpoint. He was apprehended after the alleged robbery, the report said.¹

US attorney Daniel Rosen said Mohamud “needed to be watched”. Rosen said investigators “were able to detect a threat, and disrupt it, before the defendant carried out his intention to kill”. Authorities said Mohamud had allegedly intended to kill between 30 and 60 people.¹

Other security concerns

The Guardian also reported a recent gang-related shooting in Bloomington in which more than 100 rounds were fired. Some Minnesota law-enforcement personnel were calling for a regional taskforce in response to concerns about further harm, according to the report.¹