NEW: Pakistani National Pleads Guilty To Plotting ISIS-Inspired Attack On Jewish Center

Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, also known as “Shahzeb Jadoon,” a 21-year-old Pakistani citizen who had been residing in Canada, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to one count of attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. The charge relates to his alleged plan to enter the United States illegally from Canada and carry out a mass shooting using automatic weapons at a prominent Jewish religious center in Brooklyn, New York.

According to court documents, Khan started planning the attack around November 2023. While living in Canada, he posted on social media and communicated with others about his support for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), including distributing ISIS propaganda videos and literature.

He then began planning terrorist attacks in the United States in support of ISIS. Khan communicated his intentions with two individuals who were, unbeknownst to him, undercover officers.

Khan told the undercover officers that he and a U.S.-based associate had been planning an attack in a particular U.S. city using AR-style assault rifles to target Israeli Jewish Chabad institutions scattered around that city. Khan instructed the undercover officers to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition, and other materials, and he identified specific locations for the attacks.

He also stated that he had identified a human smuggler who would assist him in crossing the border from Canada into the United States, according to a DOJ press release.

In or about August 2024, Khan shifted his target to New York City. He informed the undercover officers that the new target would be a prominent Jewish religious center in Brooklyn.

Khan then indicated that he hoped to carry out the attack on or around October 7, 2024, which he recognized as the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Israel carried out by the foreign terrorist organization Hamas on October 7, 2023. He told the undercover officers that “New york is perfect to target jews” because it has the “largest Jewish population in america,” and that “even if we dont attack a[n] Event[,] we could rack up easily a lot of jews.”

Khan further stated, “we are going to nyc to slaughter them,” and sent a photograph of the specific enclosed area inside the target location where he planned to carry out the attack. He continued to urge the acquisition of AR-style rifles, hunting knives “to slit their throats,” and other equipment, and reiterated his desire to conduct the attack in support of ISIS.

In one communication, Khan noted that “if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11.”

On or about September 4, 2024, Khan attempted to reach the U.S.-Canada border using a human smuggler. He traveled from the vicinity of Toronto toward the United States but was stopped and arrested in or around Ormstown, Canada, approximately 12 miles from the border. Khan was later extradited to the United States in June 2025.

On Wednesday, Khan officially entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe in Manhattan federal court.

“Muhammad Khan planned to carry out a horrendous attack on a venerated Jewish center in New York City in support of ISIS. 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,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said following the guilty plea. “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 is set to be sentenced on August 12. He faces a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

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