Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a 21-year-old Pakistani citizen, has pleaded guilty to attempting to carry out an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack against Jews, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Saturday night. He had planned to carry out the attack using automatic weapons last year on the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre.
“Khan planned a mass shooting at a Jewish center in New York City, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks, with the explicit goal of killing as many Jews as possible,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg.
“Khan declared that New York City was the ‘perfect’ venue for his attack because of its large Jewish population and boasted that his plot could be the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. The National Security Division will work tirelessly to ensure that terrorists like Khan face the full weight of American law.”
“Muhammad Khan planned to carry out a horrendous attack on a venerated Jewish center in New York City in support of ISIS,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “Thanks to the work of our law enforcement partners at the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI, Khan’s plan was disrupted before he reached the United States. Today’s guilty plea makes unequivocally clear: terrorism and other hate-based violence have zero place in New York City. We will continue to ensure the safety of religious groups who have the fundamental right to gather peaceably and without fear of harm. That’s what New Yorkers want and that’s the American way.”
“Khan planned to illegally enter the United States and conduct an ISIS-inspired attack on the Jewish community around the one-year anniversary of the attacks in Israel by Hamas,” said Acting Assistant Director Coult Markovsky of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “With this guilty plea, he will now face the consequences of planning a mass shooting in New York City that might have killed or injured many people. I want to thank the FBI teams and our partners for their work to prevent an attack and to bring this individual to justice.”
In posts, Khan boasted that “New york is perfect to target jews” because it has the “largest Jewish population in america,” and, as such, “even if we dont attack a[n] Event[,] we could rack up easily a lot of jews.” Khan also declared that “we are going to nyc to slaughter them,” and sent an image of the specific area where he planned to carry out the attack.
The arrest of the Pakistani man who planned an attack in New York on the anniversary of the Hamas massacre
(Video: Reuters)
Khan, who had been living in Canada, attempted to travel from Canada to New York City, where he intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out a mass shooting at the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters (known as 770) in Brooklyn. He began interacting on social media with other ISIS supporters on an encrypted messaging app in November 2023, expressing his support for the Islamic State and distributing its propaganda videos. He later began communicating with two undercover agents.
Khan urged the undercover agents, whom he believed to be ISIS supporters, to purchase rifles, ammunition and additional equipment, including, he said, “some good knives so we can slit their throats." He repeatedly expressed his desire to carry out the attack in support of ISIS, stating: “if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest attack on US soil since 9/11.”
On Sept. 4, 2024, Khan attempted to reach the U.S.-Canada border. To do so, he used three separate vehicles to travel across Canada toward the United States. He was arrested in Ormstown, Canada, about 18 kilometers from the border.