FBI officials stopped a potential terrorist attack on the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, authorities announced Wednesday. An 18-year-old was arrested on one count of obtaining a firearm to carry out an act of terrorism.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud had been investigated over the last nearly two years by the FBI. He was arrested Tuesday in a public park after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of the Islamic State for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.

His messages with a confidential informant revealed Mohamud expressed intent to join terrorist organizations overseas but those plans soon became a planned attack in Minnesota when those plans failed. The messages date back as far as December 2024.

Mohamud was seen on the mall’s security cameras walking around “nonchalantly” and eventually robbing a Lids store at gunpoint before being apprehended, according to Minnesota police.

“I wanna get martyred inshallah,” he said in the messages with the informant.

“That’s why I wanna save up to go to another country or…get a gun here and just start killing a bunch of white ppl.”

Daniel Rosen, a US attorney, said Mohamud “needed to be watched”.

It’s unclear what initially promoted the FBI’s investigation. According to Rosen, agents “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, as we allege in far greater detail in the complaint”.

The potential shooting at the mall comes after two recent shootings by Somali teens as victims and suspects, including a gang-related shooting in Bloomington where more than 100 rounds of ammunition were fired.

As terrorism and violence are an increasing concern in Minnesota, some in law enforcement are calling for a regional taskforce to address more harm in the state.

The Associated Press contributed reporting