Michigan teen portrayed as leader in Halloween terror plot

DETROIT — A Dearborn teenager has emerged in federal court records and courtroom testimony as the ringleader of a terrorist plot to attack an LGBTQ+ dance club in Ferndale who first appeared on the FBI's radar in 2024 when prosecutors say he participated in a pro-ISIS chat room focused on attacking the Chicago Pride Parade with a backpack bomb.

The alleged Chicago plot was so advanced that Dearborn resident Mohmed Ali, 21, rented a U-Haul truck as part of a planned attack on the parade on June 8, 2024, and listed the then-15-year-old as the driver, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hank Moon said during an August detention hearing in federal court in Detroit.

The teen's role in influencing the timing and target of what the FBI has called a planned attack on Halloween in Metro Detroit and the terror plot's hierarchy materialized in federal court records and testimony. The documents and testimony expanded the scope of an alleged conspiracy to commit a mass shooting on behalf of the Islamic State.

The teen, now 17, is described as being inspired by global terror attacks and seeking to carry out an attack similar to the 2016 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where 29 people were killed. Prosecutors also said the teen sought and received guidance from an Islamic ideologue about the timing of a potential attack.

In all, federal prosecutors have charged five people from Dearborn, a group that includes the teen. That teen is referred to in court by his initials: "S.A."

"S.A. appears to be the hub of this wheel ... ," defense lawyer Michael Naughton said during an Aug. 21 detention hearing for his client, 20-year-old Dearborn resident Ayob Nasser, that included new details about the teen's alleged involvement.

S.A.'s lawyer, Benton Martin, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Besides Nasser, the group of five people charged with crimes related to the alleged Halloween terror plot includes:

—Nasser's brother, Mohmed Ali, 21; and Majed Mahmoud, 21, both of Dearborn.

—The 17-year-old and "Y.N.," a Dearborn teen who turned 18 after being arrested last year, have been charged as juveniles in a sealed criminal case, according to three sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case. The News is not identifying the teens because they have been charged as juveniles.

Y.N.'s lawyer, Michael Rataj, declined comment. So did a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit.

Prosecutors are attempting to try the two juveniles as adults. They have been held since last fall in a sealed case that offers a rare test of federal law that allows juveniles to be charged in federal court in secret, closed-door proceedings.

The three adults, meanwhile, face up to 35 years in federal prison if convicted of providing material support to ISIS and a gun crime involving terrorism.

Defense attorneys criticize government's interpretation of the evidence

It is rare for minors to be charged with a federal terrorism-related crime. A 2023 report by the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University showed 246 people had been charged with crimes related to the Islamic State and the average age of the defendant was 28.

Defense lawyers for some of the men charged in the case have criticized the government's handling of the FBI investigation, saying there was no terror cell, no planned attack or imminent threat.

"They don't want to go through with this," Ali's defense lawyer, James Gerometta, said during an August detention hearing. "I think even if we accept all the government's evidence as meaning what the government says it does, I think you can draw a much different inference. And that inference is you had one young man — who's not Mr. Ali — pushing this idea, some other young men reluctantly saying they're going along with it, but when push comes to shove, aren't willing to go there.

"(Ali's) a young, young man ... ," his lawyer added. "He's not radicalized like the government says he is."

The evidence that Nasser is dangerous is thin, his lawyers said.

"The conduct alleged in this case is, at its core, speech — words exchanged online among young men (many of them underage minors)," Naughton and defense attorney James C. Thomas argued in a court filing while trying unsuccessfully to have Nasser released on bond last month.

Kimberly Altman, a federal magistrate judge who refused to release Ali on bond, disagreed with that argument.

“This was beyond chats,” Altman said. “It's a miracle that it didn't happen.”

The developments are unfolding 11 months after FBI agents arrested the group during a series of raids in Dearborn and Inkster on Halloween.

Feds outline alleged terror ringleader's chats and activities

S.A.'s alleged involvement dates to at least June 2024. That is when prosecutors said he was part of pro-ISIS chat groups, "one of which was focused on conducting an attack at the Chicago LGBTQ+ Parade," said Moon, the prosecutor.

“InshaAllah We will be att@cking the Chicago pride parade with a backpack,” one post read. “We are planning on starting with a couple small attacks to get noticed and then start growing from there inshaallah.”

The Chicago attack never materialized in 2024, but FBI agents confronted the teen that December.

"And yet, in the years since then, S.A. became only more radical, only more extreme and his planning only ramped up over that time," Moon said during the recent detention hearing.

The FBI confrontation was a pivotal moment in the life of a Dearborn teen, a former member of the school safety patrol who played football at Fordson High School. He appears to have had hardly any contact with law enforcement beyond a pair of traffic tickets for double parking and defective equipment in August 2023 in Dearborn.

S.A. has been held in the Wayne County Jail since early this year as part of a unique arrangement with the U.S. Marshals Service.

Like many teens, S.A. was active on TikTok and has almost 21,000 followers. There, he met 19-year-old New Jersey resident Tomas-Kaan Jimenez-Guzel and became acquainted with Washington state resident Saed Ali Mirreh, 20, prosecutors alleged. By spring/summer 2025, the trio and Ali were regularly communicating in video game chat groups, including one for "Call of Duty," court records show.

"And they were talking about supporting ISIS in two ways," Moon said. "One group of individuals was going to travel to Syria to join ISIS. And S.A., Ali and their group was going to stay behind and conduct a mass shooting on behalf of ISIS here in the United States."

Jimenez-Guzel, Mirreh and a third man, 21-year-old New Jersey resident Milo Sedarat, have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related crimes.

One terror suspect talks about the alleged teen ringleader

Jimenez-Guzel talked candidly with the government about the teen. Jimenez-Guzel told government officials about visiting Dearborn in June 2025 and staying with three people charged in the alleged terror plot: Ali, Ayob Nasser and Y.N.

S.A., meanwhile, picked up Jimenez-Guzel and spent "significant time" with Jimenez-Guzel, the prosecutor said.

"(Jimenez-Guzel) has told the government that S.A. specifically told him he was inspired by Omar Mateen, the Pulse nightclub shooter, that S.A. and Ali both talked about the Paris attacks as inspiration, and that S.A. told him he was planning an attack under the emir's orders of ISIS via social media, a classic lone wolf attack," Moon said.

The alleged terror plot intensified after Jimenez-Guzel's visit to Dearborn, according to the criminal case.

"... All five co-conspirators ... started amassing an arsenal of weapons, ammunition, firearm components whose purpose is to make their AR-15s more lethal, and tactical gear," Moon said.

The five co-conspirators also started visiting area gun ranges. But instead of using the more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition that Mahmoud purchased, or wearing tactical gear, vests or one of the six black ISIS-like face masks members bought, they spent more money buying ammo at the gun ranges, prosecutors said.

This move suggests "they were saving this ammunition for something else," Moon said, "which the government contends was the mass shooting."

Members of the group split into two to simultaneously scout potential attack targets, prosecutors allege. One group went to Cedar Point while a second group, including S.A., went to downtown Ferndale in September 2025, including to an area that includes Boogie Fever and LGBTQ+ bars.

"And it's clear, based on their age, based on their religious beliefs, based on their pattern of travel, based on their pro-ISIS views, that they were not there to frequent these establishments or for any non-nefarious purpose," Moon said.

Defense lawyer provided alternative explanation for actions

Naughton, the defense lawyer, suggested a more benign reason Nasser visited Cedar Point. The amusement park's security footage showed him buying Fast Lane passes near the Raptor rollercoaster and an ice cream parlor.

"They did what teenage American boys do when leaving Cedar Point: they got stopped for a photo," Naughton said. "They took it. They weren't hiding."

Nasser wanted to be released while awaiting trial. His lawyers argued Nasser has no criminal record, cooperated with investigators before being arrested and could be released on bond with restrictions.

His lawyers also argued there was no explosive or destructive device involved in the alleged plot and that there was no confirmed or identified target, date or imminent threat.

"There's a lot of talk in this case," Naughton said. "We don't have a shooting. We don't have a situation where Mr. Nasser brandished a weapon."

"Conversations reporting an alleged plan," Nasser's lawyers argued, "are tenuous at best."

In September and October 2025, messages exchanged via WhatsApp showed S.A. and others discussing martyrdom and debating potential attack dates, prosecutors alleged.

"Now, I'll be clear, the government does not know when they were planning to conduct this attack," Moon said.

But chat room messages and recorded phone calls suggested the group was looking at Halloween or New Year's Eve.

In the chats, the alleged co-conspirators used the word "pumpkin" and "fireworks," which investigators contended was code for Halloween and New Year's Eve.

"... S.A. wanted the attack to come on pumpkin," Moon said.

During the investigation, on S.A.'s computer, agents found a draft of a "final letter" similar to those left behind by domestic terrorists in other cases, the prosecutor said.

The four-and-a-half-page document chronicles the teenager's grievance with American foreign policy, praises al-Qaida and ISIS-inspired attackers, including Omar Mateen, the Pulse nightclub shooter, and the Boston Marathon bombers.

The draft, which included blanks for dates and details of an attack, was modified 10 days before the Halloween raids and arrests.

"This is my final letter to the Americans ... ," the letter reads.

Gerometta, Ali's lawyer, said there was no imminent attack.

"We have young men who are pushing an idea in the abstract," he said during the detention hearing last month. "But whenever it comes close to this being fulfilled, there's a reason to pause."

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