Terrorism threat levels are down in Minnesota compared to 10 years ago, but threat remains, former U.S. Attorney says
Just last week, an 18-year-old Twin Cities man was arrested for allegedly planning to kill people at Mall of America. He's also accused of supporting ISIS, a terrorist organization.
In 2016, there was a wave of young men from Minnesota who pledged allegiance to ISIS. Some were tried and convicted. One was killed in Syria while fighting for the terror group. The prosecutor for the case was former U.S. Attorney Andy Luger, who served from 2014 to 2017, and again from 2022 to 2025.
Luger says ISIS is still recruiting in Minnesota, though not as aggressively as it was 10 years ago.
"That doesn't mean it isn't a threat, and it doesn't mean we shouldn't be alarmed," Luger told WCCO's Esme Murphy.
His comments come after the recent arrest of 18-year-old Sheikhdoon Mohamud of the Twin Cities, who is accused of planning to kill people at Mall of America and of supporting ISIS. Federal prosecutors say he had talked online for months about joining the group and plotting an attack, but wasn't arrested until he bought an AK-47 from an undercover agent. An FBI informant first began talking to him when he was 16 years old, according to FBI reports.
"You need something more than just talk," Luger said.
Luger said authorities constantly monitor online chat rooms and discussion rooms, a practice he saw in both of his stints as U.S. attorney. They watch for ISIS-related terrorism, he said, but also for "all sorts of violence."
Luger also finds recent violence that law enforcement officials are tying to Somali gangs alarming. But he doesn't see it as a path to terrorism.
"I don't think it's a bridge to terrorism so much as there's disaffection in a lot of ethnic and other groups," Luger said.
Luger pioneered the use of RICO statutes against gangs in North Minneapolis, and he sees an opening to use those racketeering laws again.
"The gang culture is the gang culture," Luger said. "It's very localized."
He described a largely online fight in which a perceived slight leads to shootings and then retaliation.
