A disturbing case out of Michigan is raising new concerns about domestic radicalization and online extremist influence. Federal officials say a teenage boy allegedly helped plan a terrorist attack set to take place on Halloween.
According to the FBI, the teen was influenced by an extremist Islamic preacher based in Dearborn, Michigan, who has a history of spreading pro-ISIS rhetoric online.
The teen, whose name has not been released due to his age, is being described as a “juvenile co-conspirator” in a Halloween plot that involved two adult men who have now been charged. The Department of Justice announced on Monday that the two Michigan men allegedly planned a pro-ISIS assault involving AR-style rifles, handguns, shotguns, and other tactical gear. The FBI says this would have been a violent, coordinated attack.
A teen accused of helping to plan a terrorist attack for Halloween in Michigan was a follower of an extremist Dearborn-based Islamic preacher & ISIS supporter, Ahmad Musa Jibril, according to the FBI.
Same pattern. Again & again & again. https://t.co/OxuQUzDzOP
— David Burke 🇺🇸 (@ConservativeTht) November 4, 2025
According to the FBI’s complaint, the juvenile had been following and reposting videos and messages from Ahmad Musa Jibril, a well-known extremist in the region. Jibril has long been flagged by law enforcement as a dangerous ideologue with connections to individuals who support ISIS. Federal officials say that before the Halloween arrests were made, the teen also allegedly reached out to Jibril’s father, a mosque founder in Dearborn, asking for guidance about the timing of a planned “good deed.”
Our newly unsealed complaint reveals a major ISIS-linked terror plot with multiple subjects arrested in the Eastern District of Michigan targeting the United States.
According to the complaint, subjects had multiple AR-15 rifles, tactical gear, and a detailed plan to carry out…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) November 3, 2025
In a conversation that the FBI says was recorded, the teen asked when would be the right time to act. The elder Jibril reportedly told him not to wait and to “do the good deed now.” Authorities allege this exchange was tied to the planned Halloween attack. However, at least one of the adult suspects involved later told the teen that the scholar might not have given that advice if he had known exactly what the “good deed” really meant.
The FBI says that Ahmad Musa Jibril’s content has influenced multiple terror suspects in the past. In one video posted earlier this year, Jibril said that Muslims would one day “dismantle the cross and burn the Christmas trees” in liberated Muslim lands and enforce Islamic Sharia law without compromise. These kinds of statements have drawn major concern from both federal authorities and counterterrorism experts. According to past FBI documents and media reports, Jibril and his father were convicted in 2004 for money laundering and financial crimes. Since then, Ahmad Musa Jibril has continued to preach, mainly through online platforms like X (formerly Twitter), where his messages have reached young, impressionable audiences.
On Nov. 1, federal prosecutors charged two men in an alleged ISIS-inspired plot in #Michigan. The criminal complaint says the suspects regularly shared content from Ahmad Musa Jibril and even sought guidance from his father regarding the planned attack. pic.twitter.com/gvGq7lMVrO
— Sergio Altuna (@wellesbien) November 4, 2025
In a 2022 case out of New York, two individuals who had followed Jibril’s content — Seema Rahman and Mohammad Hashimi — were charged and later convicted of sending money to ISIS. The FBI cited Jibril again in those court documents, labeling him as an ideological source for jihadist radicals.
So far, in the current Michigan case, only the two adult men have been officially charged. The juvenile’s role, while detailed in the complaint, has not yet resulted in formal charges being filed publicly. Two other individuals, also described as juvenile co-conspirators, were mentioned in the complaint but not named or charged.
Ahmad Musa Jibril has not responded to requests for comment from the press. His father also could not be reached. According to a personal website, the elder Jibril is originally from Haifa, Israel, where he claims to have grown up “under brutal and unlawful occupation.” He later settled in Michigan and helped found a mosque in Dearborn.
pic.twitter.com/W9J4YoQinF
This isn’t the Middle East, this is Michigan, USA.Watch Islamic scholar Ahmad Musa Jibril telling Western mothers to “nurse your infants with the love of jihad,” to raise them to be mujahids and martyrs, and calling the “infidel West” and the U.S. the…
— Yossi BenYakar (@YossiBenYakar) October 31, 2025
This case is part of a larger pattern that federal agencies are continuing to investigate. The use of social media by extremist ideologues, especially in recruiting or inspiring young followers, remains a top concern for the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. While law enforcement was able to intercept this alleged plot before it could unfold, the details show how deep the influence of certain online figures can go — and how close to home these threats can appear.
