Adam Bettcher/AP/File via CNN Newsource

By Whitney Wild, Rob Kuznia

(CNN) - Federal officials in Minnesota have charged a man with terrorism after he planned a shooting at the Mall of America using an AK-47 rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, they said at a news conference Wednesday.

FBI investigators determined Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, planned to attack the nation's largest mall in Bloomington, and appeared to admire other terrorist-related mass casualty events, such as the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia and the New Orleans attack in January 2025, according to a federal complaint.

Mohamud, a resident of the Twin Cities suburb of Richfield, was arrested Tuesday and charged with planning a mass casualty attack in support of ISIS later this month, officials said Wednesday, adding he had wanted to kill as many as 60 people.

 Today's charges demonstrate that the threat of terrorism in support of ISIS and other foreign terrorist organizations is active and continuing,  said Minnesota US attorney Daniel Rosen.

CNN has reached out to Mohamud's attorney for comment.

According to the complaint, Mohamud knowingly received a firearm and ammunition, including a Norinco AK-47 assault rifle and approximately 200 live rounds of ammunition, to commit a felony and a federal crime of terrorism.

In a 23-page affidavit, an FBI agent said the investigation into Mohamud started in December 2024. Over the last 21 months, Mohamud and an undercover source exchanged messages through social media and encrypted messaging applications where Mohamud expressed his desire to travel to Somalia to either join a foreign terrorist organization and fight on its behalf or commit a mass shooting in Minnesota on behalf of a terrorist group.

Rosen said federal agents' attempts to speak with Mohamud's parents about his radicalization in 2025 were rebuffed.

 I just want to say to parents all over Minnesota - for that matter all over America - 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 tha
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