Mall of America has been preparing for an attack like the one prosecutors say Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud planned for years before he was arrested. The 18-year-old from Richfield is being held in the Sherburne County Jail.
He faces a single charge, and it's narrow but serious. Prosecutors say he knowingly received a firearm and ammunition while knowing or having reason to believe they would be used to commit a federal crime of terrorism. U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and FBI Special Agent Christopher Dotson announced the case. Rosen said that once the FBI saw "the level of enthusiasm and commitment from the suspect, it was decided to intervene and disrupt at the soonest possible time."
For anyone who spends time at the mall, the date is the most chilling part. According to the charging documents, Mohamud settled on Oct. 24, when the mall is hosting a Hmong Arts Celebration. In messages quoted by authorities, he said he picked that day because "it will be a lot of people." Authorities say he told an undercover informant he planned to kill 30 to 60 people.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges was at the announcement. "I'm horrified to learn of the case," he said, adding that "this type of hatred for this country is something I just don't understand."
The mall has been treated as a target for a long time. In February 2015, the Somali terror group al-Shabaab released a video that named Mall of America, along with Canada's West Edmonton Mall and London's Oxford Street, as targets. The video held up the group's 2013 attack on Kenya's Westgate Mall as an example. The mall responded by promising "extra security precautions - some visible to guests and others that are not" and said it was working with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The mall's security already included a Risk Assessment and Mitigation unit modeled on units in Israel. Its members train in Israel at the expense of owner Triple Five Group and watch for "intent, rather than means," along with canine bomb-detection teams. Past incidents show how much the mall's security has changed since then.
Investigators say this case began in late 2024, when Mohamud was 16 and said he wanted to join ISIS or al-Shabaab overseas. For almost 2 years, an FBI informant talked with him on Telegram, Signal, Discord and TikTok. In May 2025, agents visited his family's home, and authorities say his father declined to cooperate. Authorities say Mohamud pledged support to ISIS in those conversations. In July, they say, he wrote that he didn't have the money to travel to Somalia, "so i will do attack here," and talked about bringing a gun to Mall of America or Valleyfair.
The arrest came in the parking lot of a Richfield park. Authorities say Mohamud met someone he believed was connected to ISIS. That person was actually an undercover FBI employee. Mohamud paid $600 for a rifle, 4 30-round magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition. No attack happened and nobody was hurt.
