Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, had been on the FBI’s radar since December 2024, when he began trading messages with a confidential informant. A criminal complaint says he initially expressed an interest in traveling to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab militants. As his plans to instead attack the mall solidified, the complaint says, agents sold him the gun and ammunition on Tuesday, Oct. 6 and arrested him on the spot.
Rosen said Mohamud is an American-born U.S. citizen of Somali descent.
According to an FBI agent’s sworn complaint, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed in chat messages to the informant that he intended to attack and kill non-Muslims at the mall on Oct. 24, the date of a scheduled arts celebration by the Hmong community, Minnesota’s largest Asian ethnic group.
When the informant asked if he was serious about committing the attack, Mohamud replied, “yes i am 100% sure,” the complaint said, and added: “I would have backed out by now if I wasn’t sure.”
The agent wrote that Mohamud’s messages expressed admiration for recent terror attacks, as well as an interest in traveling to fight in Somalia, ultimately for the Islamic State group. He later decided he couldn’t afford to travel there and would attack the mall instead, the complaint said.
The teen first came to the FBI’s attention in December 2024, the same month the source began exchanging messages with him, the complaint said. By May 2025, agents were concerned enough that they went to his 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.
“What I would say to parents all over Minnesota, and all over America: If you get any indication — especially if you hear from federal law enforcement — that your son or daughter is being radicalized, to the point where federal law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, those are warnings that ought to be heeded,” Rosen 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.