Minnesota Senate hopeful warns threat level rising amid rash of Somali gang crime, terror plot

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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michele Tafoya is sounding the alarm about crime levels in the state amid a wave of Somali gang violence and a foiled terror plot by an American born to Somali parents.

The Republican Senate nominee in Minnesota is sounding the alarm about crime levels in the state amid a wave of Somali gang violence and a foiled terror plot by an American born to Somali parents.

"I hear a lot of concerns from Minnesotans on the campaign trail about crime, and no matter what form that crime takes, Minnesotans know that they feel under a level of threat that has increased lately here in Minnesota, and in the last week and just today," Michele Tafoya, running as a Republican against Minnesota's Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. "We saw the arrest of an 18-year-old Somali American citizen to Somali parents arrested for a terrorist — planning a terrorist attack — at the Mall of America during a Hmong celebration."

The suspect in that alleged terror plot is 18-year-old Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, born in the United States to Somali nationals who are naturalized American citizens, law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital. Federal court documents said that Mohamud was arrested after purchasing an AK-47-style rifle, magazines and ammunition from an undercover FBI agent whom he believed to be a loyal ISIS member.

MALL OF AMERICA TERROR PLOT THWARTED, SUSPECTED ISIS SYMPATHIZER ARRESTED, FBI ANNOUNCES

Michele Tafoya makes her case as the GOP's U.S. Senate nominee at the Minnesota Republican state convention at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center in Duluth, Minn., on Saturday, May 29, 2026. (Star Tribune via Getty Images)