(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI Director Kashyap Patel said on Friday that agents in Michigan foiled an ISIS-inspired plot to commit a mass shooting on Halloween. Newly unsealed court records show that the truth is more complicated than what Patel would have the public believe.
A criminal complaint filed Saturday and unsealed Monday shows that at least 10 people were involved in the alleged plot, but only two were charged. The other eight players included five unnamed and uncharged “co-conspirators”—some of them located overseas—an unnamed juvenile, an FBI informant, and an undercover agent.
The two defendants, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mohmoud, weren’t charged with conspiracy to commit murder or plotting an act of terrorism. Rather, they were charged “for having firearms that would be used in a conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS,” the Justice Department said in a Monday press release.
The DOJ’s case is underpinned by conversations between other co-conspirators and undercover FBI informants—conversations in which Ali and Mohmoud weren’t even involved.
It’s an incredibly convoluted criminal complaint. At least 9 people involved, only 2 charged. There are 5 unnamed “co-conspirators” — some of them overseas– an FBI informant, an undercover agent, and an unnamed juvenile. Why weren’t others charged if it’s an airtight case? pic.twitter.com/4NU14Lrqx6
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 3, 2025
For example, on June 27 someone identified as “co-conspirator 2” said that he tried to convince Ali and Mohmoud to travel to Syria to join ISIS, but that they were going to stay in the U.S. to do the “same thing as France”—a reference to the 2015 ISIS mass shooting in Paris. In the same conversation, which was recorded by an FBI informant, co-conspirator 2 said the defendants would carry out their shooting “at like a club, a disco.”
The criminal complaint does show that the defendants were talking with the unnamed juvenile in code, repeatedly referencing “pumpkins.” The criminal complaint also says that the defendants allegedly conducted surveillance at clubs around Ferndale, Michigan.
Additionally, Ali and Mohmoud had been acquiring firearms, stockpiling ammo, and visiting shooting ranges earlier this year—though they did all that legally. During at least two of their trips to the range, plainclothes FBI agents were there, too, observing them.
It appears that the defendants have been on the FBI’s radar for over a year. According to the criminal complaint, agents interviewed the unnamed juvenile in September 2024. The juvenile admitted to belonging to Discord chatrooms that shared ISIS propaganda, and said that he was being recruited as a “potential mujahid”—a holy warrior engaged in violent jihad.
Based on that information, the FBI said in an affidavit that there’s probable cause to believe that Ali and Mohmoud committed a crime. It’s unclear why the other co-conspirators weren’t charged.
Defense lawyer Amir Makled, who represents one of the men detained, said that “there was never any planned mass-casualty event or terrorism plot of any kind that I’m aware of.”
“They might have been on some websites or online chat groups that they shouldn’t have been, but nothing that is illegal,” he added.
Manufactured Terror Plots
The FBI has a long history of using undercover agents to provoke or bait young men into criminal acts—one of the most prominent examples occurring in Michigan with the 2020 purported militia plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. In that case, there were at least 12 informants and several undercover agents, some of whom organized militia training exercises, drove some the defendants to various locations, and supplied them with copious amounts of alcohol and cannabis.
While I’m less sympathetic to entrapment claims when the target is enlisted in the military, this case is pretty egregious.
On Dec. 13, the 2 undercover agents convinced Said to record an ISIS propaganda video. Said actually suspected them of being feds, so he put AirTags in… https://t.co/tqrEFtPdQw pic.twitter.com/IBhQP1v5xZ— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) May 16, 2025
Of the 12 men arrested in the Whitmer case, four took plea deals, five were eventually acquitted, and five were found guilty—two of them in federal court and three in state court. Two separate courts have upheld the convictions, despite the fact that judges admitted the FBI had provoked the accused.
More recently in that state, the feds arrested a 19-year-old former Michigan Army National Guardsman for allegedly attempting to carry out a mass shooting at a U.S. military base in Warren, Michigan. The DOJ’s charging papers against Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said show that at least two undercover FBI agents and an informant were used against him. Records also show that Said suspected the undercover agents of entrapment in December, before he eventually changed his mind and decided to proceed with the purported plan.
Said’s case is still pending.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.