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1 FBI Says It Thwarted Attack on Mall of America
The FBI thwarted an attack on Minnesota's Mall of America by a teenager after agents supplied him with an assault rifle, authorities announced Wednesday. The 18-year-old had been under investigation for nearly two years, trading messages with a confidential informant, before agents sold him the rifle and ammunition, according to a federal complaint described by US Attorney Daniel Rosen. The criminal complaint said Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud, 18, was arrested Tuesday in a public park after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of ISIS for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition, the AP reports. In text messages with a confidential FBI source, Mohamud repeatedly affirmed his intent to carry out an attack to kill non-Muslims, the complaint said. CBS News reports that according to court documents, the teen told the source last month that he planned to attack the Hmong Arts Celebration at the mall on October 24, saying "it will be a lot of people." Mohamud also allegedly expressed a desire to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabaab militants, and pledged allegiance to ISIS in a video posted on Discord last month.
2 WHO Officials Say It's Not Clear How Russia Plague Lab Worker Died
The World Health Organization says it still does not have enough information from Russia to figure out how a plague lab worker in Siberia died. WHO officials said they asked Russia for details after media reports of the death, and Russia replied that no recent plague cases had been reported in the region, though about 200 people were placed in quarantine. Early reports suggested the worker died of plague, but Russian officials later said it was pneumonia unrelated to her lab work. The WHO says lab tests have not identified what killed her, and U.S. health officials say there is no broader threat to Americans.
3 Gulf Coast Braces for Year's First Hurricane
Tropical Storm Isaias is on course to become the first hurricane of what has been an unusually subdued season so far. The system spun up in the Gulf of Mexico off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday and is tracking northeast, with forecasters warning that parts of the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle could see as much as six inches of rain starting Friday, the New York Times reports. The system could peak as a Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph winds late Thursday or early Friday, reports CNN. Landfall is expected on the Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday. The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday morning that a hurricane watch has been issued for the northern Gulf Coast from Bay St. Louis, Mississippi to Indian Pass, Florida. A tropical storm watch has been issued for the northern Gulf Coast from the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish line, Louisiana to west of Bay St. Louis, and from east of Indian Pass to Aucilla River, Florida. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency across 25 counties, the BBC reports.