Man eyed Minnesota's Mall of America for attack, pledging allegiance to ISIS, federal prosecutors say

An 18-year-old man accused of telling an FBI informant he planned to carry out an attack later this month at Mall of America was arrested at gunpoint Tuesday in Richfield, Minnesota, during an arranged meeting to buy an assault rifle, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Wednesday.Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dotson discussed the case involving Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, a Twin Cities resident and U.S. citizen, in a news conference Wednesday afternoon, where Rosen praised the FBI for its "diligence" in thwarting the attack."They were able to detect a threat and disrupt it before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, maybe 30 to 60 people," Rosen said.In the complaint, authorities say a "confidential human source" exchanged "hundreds of bi-directional messages through multiple social media and encrypted messaging applications" with Mohamud from December 2024 until Tuesday.