Pakistani man pleads guilty to planning 'largest terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11'

A Pakistani man on Wednesday (Apr 8) pleaded guilty to attempting to commit what could have been the "largest terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11". The man, identified as Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, aka Shahzeb Jadoon, planned to use automatic weapons to carry out a mass shooting at a prominent Jewish centre in New York's Brooklyn, said the US Justice Department in a statement.

A plan to kill as many Jews as possible

The 21-year-old Pakistani national who had been living in Canada pleaded guilty to plotting a mass shooting at a prominent Jewish religious centre in Brooklyn, New York. According to Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg, the Pakistani national planned to carry out the attack on the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks "with the explicit goal of killing as many Jews as possible".

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, entered his plea before US District Judge Paul G. Gardephe in federal court. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 12, 2026.

According to court documents, Khan began expressing support for ISIS on social media in late 2023, distributing propaganda and communicating with others about his ideology. He was eventually in contact with two individuals he believed were fellow conspirators who were, in fact, undercover law enforcement officers. Over months of recorded communications, Khan laid out his plans in considerable detail.

He initially targeted Jewish centres in another US city using AR-style assault rifles before shifting his focus to New York in August 2024. His reasoning was explicit. New York, he told the undercover officers, was "perfect to target Jews" because of its large Jewish population. "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," noted Assistant AG Eisenberg.

He identified a specific enclosed area inside a Brooklyn Jewish centre as his intended kill zone, sent photographs of the location, and repeatedly pressed the officers to acquire rifles, ammunition, and hunting knives. During one exchange, he wrote that "if we succeed with our plan, this would be the largest attack on US soil since 9/11."

How was he arrested?

The planned date was on or around October 7, 2024, the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks in Israel. However, Khan never made it across the border. On September 4, 2024, he travelled from the Toronto area toward the United States using a human smuggler and was arrested in Ormstown, Canada, roughly twelve miles from the US border. He was extradited to the United States in June 2025.

The plot was disrupted through the work of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multi-agency operation involving the FBI, the NYPD, and more than fifty federal, state, and local partners. Canadian authorities, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, assisted with the arrest and extradition.