The FBI said it has stopped an attack on the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
The Associated Press said Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, was arrested on Tuesday in a park after he paid an undercover FBI employee $600 for an AK-47. The employee was posing as a member of ISIS. Mohamud also purchased 200 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.
The FBI had Mohamud under investigation for two years as he messaged with a confidential informant prior to the weapon sale.
He told a confidential informant that he planned to carry out an attack and kill non-Muslims, the agency said in a federal criminal complaint.
WCCO said the attack was planned during the Hmong Arts Celebration at the Mall of America on Oct. 24. He also looked at targeting Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota, around Christmas.
Mohamud said, according to the complaint, that he was inspired by the Bondi Beach attack in Sydney, Australia, WCCO reported. He also said that he watched video of the Pulse nightclub shooting from 2016 and thought he could do similarly. “I just walk in and shoot,” he said in the messages with the informant, according to the criminal complaint affidavit.
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