Charges: Man stole body armor, other items from Minnesota store for potential ‘mass casualty event’

A Minnesota man has been charged with shoplifting body armor and other items, and posting politically motivated threats to potentially create mass casualties.

Mohamed Adan Mohamed, 24, of St. Peter was charged Monday in Blue Earth County District Court with threats of violence and felony theft in connection with stealing body armor and other items from Scheels on April 17 and posting a deadly threat aimed at the United States and Israel.

Mohamed was arrested that same day and remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail. A message was left Thursday seeking a response to the allegations. Mohamed is due back in court on May 1.

According to the charges:

Store employees alerted police about a man in the business wearing a heavy winter jacket, stocking cap, COVID mask and gloves while selecting the following “high-priced items” without checking their price: eight 9-millimeter rifle magazines, bear spray and body armor.

Mohamed told people in the store he has an AR-style rifle that uses 9-millimeter ammunition and soon left the store without paying for the $2,150 in merchandise. He got in a minivan and nearly ran over a person before reaching Raintree Road.

Police determined Mohamed was looking at a list as he selected items. He left the list in the store. At the top, it read, “Survival Gear List with Alternative.” The items noted included a sleeping bag, eight magazines, knives, pepper spray, and bows and arrows.

A call to police sometime in the previous week revealed that Mohamed had been making several social media postings that showed guns and ammunition, with one showing him pointing a “an apparent assault rifle at the camera,” the complaint read. The posting included “#deathtoamerikkan&israelliImperialism.”

The posting is an apparent reference to U.S. support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip against the Hamas terrorist organization.

A state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension special agent, aware of the thefts and the postings, wrote to local law enforcement that “‘there were strong indicators that Mohamed was preparing to conduct some sort of attack (Mass Casualty Event) in the next twenty-four hours,’” the complaint noted.

Police traced the minivan to Mohamed’s home in St. Peter on S. 7th Street. A law enforcement search turned up the rifle he used when he aimed it at the camera and posted the image on social media.