Federal agents spoke to the parents of Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud at their Minnesota home in May 2025, more than a year before the 18-year-old was arrested and charged in an alleged ISIS-inspired plot to carry out a mass-casualty attack at the Mall of America, according to court documents.
Mohamud, of Richfield, Minn., was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly purchasing an AK-47-style rifle, four 30-round magazines and about 200 rounds of ammunition from an undercover FBI employee for $600. Prosecutors say he planned to attack the Bloomington, Minn., mall because he believed it was owned by Jews and intended to kill 30 to 60 people. He later identified Oct. 24 as a possible attack date, when a Hmong Arts Celebration was scheduled to draw a large crowd to the mall.
The FBI had been investigating Mohamud since December 2024, when he began exchanging messages with a confidential source about traveling to Somalia to join a foreign terrorist organization. He later discussed carrying out a mass-casualty attack in Minnesota if he could not travel overseas.
In May 2025, FBI agents went to Mohamud’s residence to speak with him, according to an FBI affidavit. His mother, identified in court filings as “A.O.,” told agents her son was away but would return from school soon by bus.
She then called Mohamud’s father, identified as “A.M.W.,” who also spoke with the agents. According to the affidavit, the father “stated he did not want to share any information pertaining to himself or his son with agents and would provide agents’ contact information to his attorney.”
His parents are reportedly Somali nationals who are naturalized U.S. citizens. Mohamud described himself to an undercover FBI agent as “Somali.”
Mohamud is charged with knowingly receiving a firearm and ammunition with the intent to commit a federal crime of terrorism. He made his initial appearance on Oct. 7 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright, who ordered him detained pending an Oct. 19 detention hearing.
