FBI thwarts attack on Mall of America by ‘radicalized’ US-born Somalian interested in joining ISIS

The FBI held a press conference after it thwarted an attack on the Mall of America by a teenager in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen claimed the attacker was “a radicalized young man who needed to be watched.”

Rosen claimed the FBI detected the threat “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.”

Authorities said the 18-year-old had been under investigation for nearly two years and had traded messages with a confidential informant.

Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, was arrested in a public park on Tuesday after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of ISIS for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.

According to officials, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed his intent to carry out an attack to kill non-Muslims.