Minnesota teen accused of plotting terror attack at Mall of America to remain jailed

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An 18-year-old from Minnesota who prosecutors say planned a terror attack at the Mall of America and who was arrested after buying an AK-47 from an undercover FBI employee must remain in custody, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, an American-born U.S. citizen of Somali descent, won't be released because he's a risk to the community and a flight risk, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster said.

Mohamud had been on the FBI’s radar since December 2024, when he began trading messages with a confidential informant. He was arrested Oct. 6 after meeting with an FBI employee posing as a member of the Islamic State group and paying $600 for the rifle, 200 rounds of ammunition and four 30-round magazines, authorities said.

“This was as close to committing a terrorist attack as he could have gotten,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar said during the hearing. “He was 100% committed to doing this crime and he was 100% committed to doing it on behalf of ISIS.”

Mohamud’s attorney, Manny Atwal, said during Monday’s hearing that he was just 16 when the confidential informant began speaking to him, and that his only access to weapons was through those supplied by the FBI. She had asked that he be held in a halfway house where he would be monitored by GPS and have no access to the internet.

Mohamud was arrested at a public park in Richfield, the Minneapolis suburb where he lived, several miles northwest of the mall. Authorities said Mohamud said he planned to attack the mall on Oct. 24, when there was a scheduled arts celebration by the Hmong community, Minnesota’s largest Asian ethnic group.

“He wanted to harm as many people as possible,” FBI Special Agent Keegan Rupenthal testified at Monday's hearing. The teen’s “ultimate goal was to become a martyr,” and during his arrest he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group's leader, Rupenthal said.

Mohamud initially expressed interest in messages about traveling to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab militants, according to Rupenthal’s affidavit in support of the criminal complaint. But Mohamud, who expressed admiration for terror attacks that had happened in the U.S., eventually said he didn’t have enough money to travel overseas and decided to carry out an attack in Minnesota, according to the affidavit.

Rupenthal said during the hearing that on multiple occasions, the confidential informant told Mohamud that the attack was a serious thing, and that he could back out. “He said that he was 100% committed to doing it and that he wasn’t being pressured,” Rupenthal testified.

The FBI has foiled several alleged attacks through sting operations in which agents posed as terror supporters, supplying advice or equipment. Critics say the strategy can amount to entrapment.

In May 2025, FBI agents were concerned enough that they went to Mohamud's home. His mother told them he wasn’t home from school yet and called the boy’s father, who declined to speak with them and said he would give their contact information to his lawyer, the complaint said.

Tens of thousands of people of Somali descent live in Minnesota, dating back to when refugees began arriving in the 1990s. Over the years several have been charged with attempting to join militant groups.

Schmidt is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Associated Press reporter Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.