The Justice Department announced Wednesday that Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, also known as “Shahzeb Jadoon,” pleaded guilty to attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries. Khan, a 21-year-old Pakistani citizen residing in Canada, admitted to plotting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting with automatic weapons at 770 in Brooklyn, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks. He entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 12, 2026, where he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

According to the official charging instruments, Khan began distributing ISIS propaganda in November 2023 and soon after started planning a domestic terrorist attack. He communicated his plans to two individuals he believed were associates, but who were actually undercover law enforcement officers. Khan repeatedly instructed the officers to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition, and hunting knives to “slit their throats.”

While he initially plotted to target “Israeli Jewish chabads” scattered around a different U.S. city, Khan shifted his focus exclusively to Brooklyn in August 2024. He told the undercover officers that New York was the “perfect” venue due to its large Jewish population, callously noting that “even if we dont attack a[n] Event[,] we could rack up easily a lot of jews.” He later sent a photograph of the specific enclosed area inside 770 where he planned to carry out the massacre, boasting to the agents that a successful assault would be “the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11.”

Top law enforcement officials strongly condemned the thwarted plot in the official release. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg stated that Khan planned the attack “with the explicit goal of killing as many Jews as possible.” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton described it as a “horrendous attack on a venerated Jewish center,” emphasizing that “terrorism and other hate-based violence have zero place in New York City.” NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch also praised the close coordination with federal partners that stopped the “dangerous plot before it could become a devastating attack.”

Khan’s deadly scheme was ultimately foiled on September 4, 2024. He was intercepted near Ormstown, Canada—approximately 12 miles from the U.S. border—while attempting to cross with the help of a human smuggler. Following his arrest, authorities successfully secured his extradition to the United States in June 2025.

Notably, the official press release documenting the case included a specific footnote to define the word “Chabad” for the general public, officially explaining that “‘Chabad’ is a branch of Hasidic Judaism, as well as a movement that operates Jewish religious and educational institutions around the world.”