A Pakistani national, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, was charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS after allegedly plotting to carry out a mass shooting targeting Jewish people in New York City, U.S. federal prosecutors announced on Friday.
Khan, 20, was arrested earlier this week in Canada, where authorities say he had devised plans to travel to Brooklyn, New York, to attack a Jewish center. According to the criminal complaint, Khan expressed his support for ISIS on social media starting in November 2023 and later communicated his plans to undercover law enforcement officers through an encrypted messaging app.
The complaint outlines how Khan allegedly discussed a “coordinated assault” using AR-style rifles, aiming to “target Israeli Jewish chabads” in the city. He specifically cited October 7 and October 11 as key dates for the attack, with October 7 marking the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and October 11 being Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.
Khan allegedly told undercover officers that New York was “perfect to target Jews” due to its large Jewish population, boasting that “even if we don’t attack an event, we could rack up easily a lot of Jews.” He sent a photograph of the area where he intended to carry out the attack, prosecutors said.
In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized the seriousness of the threat: “The defendant is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack in New York City around October 7th of this year with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible.”
Garland reaffirmed that Jewish communities, like all others, should not live in fear of hate-fueled terrorism.
Khan is facing a single charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.