18-year-old accused of planning Mall of America terror attack will remain in jail

A Minnesota teen who was arrested after being accused of planning a terror attack on the Mall of America in Minneapolis must remain in jail, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster said Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud,18, won’t be released because he’s a risk to the community and a flight risk, the Associated Press reported .

During an almost two-year undercover investigation by the FBI , Mohamud traded messages with a confidential informant and paid $600 to an FBI employee posing as a member of ISIS for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition. He was arrested on Oct. 6 in a public park following the purchase.

According to a federal complaint described by U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, Mohamud texted a confidential FBI source and repeatedly conveyed his intent to carry out an attack to kill non-Muslims.

“This was as close to committing a terrorist attack as he could have gotten,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar said during the hearing according to the AP. “He was 100% committed to doing this crime and he was 100% committed to doing it on behalf of ISIS.”

Mohamud’s attorney Manny Atwal said during Monday’s hearing that he was just 16 when the confidential informant began speaking to him. She further argued that his only access to weapons was through those supplied by the FBI.

Atwal had asked for Mohamud to be held in a halfway house where he would be monitored by GPS and have no access to the internet.

FBI Special Agent Keegan Rupenthal, who testified at Monday’s hearing, said Mohamud’s ultimate goal was to become a martyr and during his arrest he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group’s leader, the AP noted.