A Pakistani national living in Canada was extradited to the United States on June 10 to face charges of attempting to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at a prominent Jewish center in New York, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, appeared in court in connection with a federal indictment filed in the Southern District of New York, the DOJ said in a June 10 statement.
He was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the ISIS terrorist group, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Khan was arrested in Canada in September 2024 while attempting to travel to New York City.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS at a Jewish center in Brooklyn.
Before his arrest, Khan had expressed support for the terrorist organization in social media posts and communications with others on encrypted messaging apps in November 2023, the office said. He also shared ISIS propaganda videos and literature, according to the statement.
Khan was allegedly communicating with two undercover law enforcement officers. During those conversations, he revealed that he and a U.S.-based associate planned to carry out a terrorist attack in the United States in support of ISIS, the office said.
He also revealed that he had been actively trying to create “a real offline cell” of ISIS supporters to carry out a “coordinated assault” in a U.S. city—referred to in charging documents and public filings cited by the office as “City-1″—using AR-style rifles to “target Israeli Jewish Chabads … scattered all around” the unspecified city. Chabad is a branch of Hasidic Judaism.
Khan is also alleged to have instructed the undercover officers in how to obtain AR-style rifles, ammunition, and other materials to help carry out the attacks, and he identified locations where the attacks would take place, the office said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in August 2024 or close to then, Khan changed his target to New York City.
“Specifically, KHAN told the [undercover law enforcement officers] that the target location would now be a prominent Jewish religious center in Brooklyn, New York,” the statement said.
He allegedly said that “Oct 7th and Oct 11th are the best days for targeting the jews,” citing the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and the possibility of protests over the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led incursion into Israel.
Khan allegedly used three separate cars to travel across Canada toward the United States before he was stopped by Canadian authorities in Ormstown, approximately 12 miles from the U.S.–Canada border.
“The foreign terrorist organization ISIS remains a clear and present danger to the American people, and our Jewish citizens are especially targeted by evil groups like these,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “The Department of Justice is proud to help secure this extradition, and we will prosecute this man to the fullest extent of the law.”
It is not clear whether Khan has an attorney.
The Epoch Times has contacted the DOJ for further comment.
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