In a new mind-blowing arrest made Tuesday by federal authorities, an 18-year-old Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, Minnesota teen, was taken into custody after authorities say he obtained an AK-47-style rifle and ammunition for an alleged planned mass shooting at the Mall of America.
Mohamud is now charged with receiving a firearm and ammunition for use in a federal terrorism offense.
The weapon the suspect obtained, according to prosecutors, was part of a plan in progress for an attack he intended to carry out Oct. 24 at a festival at the Mall of America, and he had bragged about his plan to bodybag a number totaling between 30 and 60 people.
Authorities say the arrest followed a controlled transaction. Mohamud had paid a whopping $600 in cash to a man who he believed was a member of ISIS for a Norinco AK-47 rifle and an additional four 30-round magazines and about 200 rounds of live ammunition.
What he didn’t know was that the seller was an undercover FBI employee. The rifle had been made inert before the sale, while the ammunition was live.
“Today’s charges demonstrate that the threat of terrorism in support of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations is active and continuing,” U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said at a press conference.
“Over the course of this investigation, Mohamud repeatedly expressed support of foreign terrorist organizations. Because he felt like he could not travel abroad to fight for these organizations, he instead expressed his intent to commit a terrorist-inspired attack here in the United States, in Minnesota,” Dotson added.
Agents took Mohamud into custody shortly after he left the gun shopping store with the duffel bag.
The dramatic part was Mohamud sent a link of the event center to the undercover employee who he then told he intended to shoot people there.
Investigators say the alleged plan represents a shift. Mohamud, an American citizen born in the United States who described Somalia as his parents’ homeland, had initially spoken of traveling to Somalia to fight, and by late last year named ISIS as the group he wanted to join.
When travel turn out to be too expensive, prosecutors said that was when he changed course to an attack at home.
Prosecutors have put a name to the alleged domestic planning, describing it as antisemitic targeting.
In prosecutors’ own account, Mohamud chose the Mall of America because it is owned by Jewish people, and his intention was to harm Jewish people, referencing the Bondi Beach attack in Australia last year Which involved 16 people killed, including one of the two attackers and More than 40 people injured.
Those allegations have not been tested in court.
In prosecutors’ own account, Mohamud chose the Mall of America because it is owned by Jewish people, and his intention was to harm Jewish people, referencing the Bondi Beach attack in Australia last year which involved 16 people killed, including one of the two attackers and more than 40 people injured.
“The messages this defendant allegedly sent to others were chilling,” Dotson said. He described Mohamud as “100 percent committed” to what Dotson called his planned jihad journey and said Mohamud allegedly sought martyrdom in carrying out his plans to murder innocent civilians.
Mohamud is charged with one count under U.S. 18 U.S.C. 924.
The charge alleges he received the rifle and ammunition knowing they would be used in a felony and a federal crime of terrorism, specifically attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. A criminal complaint establishes probable cause.
