DEARBORN, Mich. – FBI officials revealed the code word that tipped them off to a thwarted Dearborn terror attack being scheduled for Halloween.
Court documents released this week outlined some of the details of the alleged plot, including messages sent in encrypted chats.
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The FBI says the word “pumpkin” was used several times, and they believe it was in reference to Halloween being the day they planned to carry out the attack.
The people involved are accused of regularly communicating in a group chat on WhatsApp, an online encrypted communications application.
From Sept. 26 through at least Oct. 26, there were 125 communications within this group chat, with Person 1 and Mohmed Ali as the senders, according to the criminal complaint.
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The communications in this chat allegedly start after Ali purchased weapons and go through the in-person meetings and trips to the gun ranges.
In addition to this chat, Person 1 and Ali communicated separately about a planned attack “that may take place on ‘pumpkin’ (”Halloween") or other dates," according to the complaint.
Note: According to the criminal complaint, “The quotations contained in this affidavit (in this section and elsewhere) are based on preliminary FBI transcriptions and, in some cases, include preliminary translations of certain words or phrases from Arabic to English.”
Communications on Oct. 15, 2025
In one conversation, Person 1 told Ali, “that he was fearful.”
Ali responded and said, “The way I see it, is that... this is the closest I am to deciding, like, that I am going to paradise, God willing. If I die any other way, then knowing you, ten times more scared that you are going to Hell, you understand?”
Person 1 said, “Yeah, that is true, good, God willing.”
Communications on Oct. 17, 2025
Here are communications that Ali and Person 1 had on Oct. 17, 2025:
- Ali to Person 1: “We’ve got some new plan for real—for real . . . We’re gonna talk with Majed [MAHMOUD] . . .”
- Person 1 asked: “Is there a new plan or it’s just like . . .”
- Ali responded: “Aha . . . some of the same old, same old maybe . . .”
‘Just learn how to shoot’
The two then had the following conversation about Person 1’s plan to go to a gun range to “learn how to shoot”:
- Person 1: Is it anything changing with the . . .
- ALI: No, no, [UI] God willing. We will still talk [UI]
- Person 1: No, I need to know now . . . Is there anything
- changing with the . . .
- ALI: No, no, no change.
- Person 1: So just the . . .
- ALI: We’re gonna do it . . . We’re gonna do it the big 2035
- [laughs]
- Person 1: Are you serious?
- ALI: No. don’t worry.
- Person 1: So, it’s the same everything, just different like, you
- know.
- ALI: Uh, same thing. We’ll talk God willing. Me and [UI] we talked about it . . . Uh . . . I mean it’s—it’s trust. Look, after today you guys are going to the range [UI] one hundred percent right?
- Person 1: Aha . . . God willing.
- ALI: When you go, God willing, you going, will also be another factor to prove like the change. It will all make sense later. But you just try to shoot, just learn how to shoot. It’s not as easy as you think.
Later that day, Person 1 and three other people went to Downriver Guns in Brownstown Township and “practiced shooting with an AR-15-style rifle, a shotgun, and a handgun,” according to the complaint.
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FBI: ‘Pumpkins’ referred to attack planned for Halloween
The following day, on Oct. 18, Person 1 told Ali “that ‘Majed’ (Mahmoud) seems confident, but other days he is ‘geeking out.’”
Person 1 then said to Ali: “Imagine if you extend, by Allah it will only make things worse.”
Ali then told Person 1 that he wanted to have a “Shura Council,” or an advisory council, to make a decision. He also wanted to see how Mahmoud would react.
Ali responded and said: “Tell him [MAHMOUD] this, it’s on this, we are going back to this pumpkins.”
According to the complaint, the FBI agent believed that when they said “pumpkins,” they were referring to a planned attack that they would commit on or around Halloween.
Ali asked Person 1 if he had told anybody about “the date, the thing,” according to the complaint.
Person 1 responded and said, “You mean brothers online?” and then said, “No, I never told anyone regarding that day. By Allah, that day. Any day specifically, I never told anyone. The only person who knows something is [Co-conspirator 1] and you know what he knows, he doesn’t know nothing.”
After further discussion, Ali told Person 1 that “there are other things they can add.”
Person 1 responded, “I don’t like to wait. We already agreed on this day, keep it on this day.”
During this conversation, the FBI agent said Person 1 used Co-conspirator 1’s known alias and referenced a potential attack that was consistent with what other co-conspirators discussed during a separate group call on July 27, 2025, where they said Ali and Person 1 wanted to do “the same thing as France.”
‘I gotta do the pumpkin for real’
Person 1 and Ali also referenced “pumpkin” in a conversation on Oct. 22, 2025.
During this exchange, “Ali sang in a mocking tone, ‘I gotta do the pumpkin for real...if [UI] don’t do the pumpkin I’m gonna slit my wrists,” according to the complaint.
“Based on these statements, I also believe that when Person 1 and ALI referred to ‘pumpkins’ or ‘pumpkin’ in these and other exchanges, they were referring to Halloween as the potential day for the attack they were plotting, an attack that they understood could result in their deaths and martyrdom,” the FBI agent said in the criminal complaint.
Communications on Oct. 24, 2025
On Oct. 24, 2025, Person 1 told Ali, “So ya, I talked to my brothers. We are going to do pumpkin.”
After that, on Oct. 26, 2025, Ali told Person 1 “that he was cleaning his rifle,” according to the complaint.
“On October 29, 2025, Person 1 called the father of the Islamic Ideologue and told him that he (Person 1) ‘had an intention to do [a] good deed, and I was indecisive. I don’t know what day to do it. Maybe in a couple of months or earlier, a month,’” according to the complaint.
After that, they shared a prayer, and Person 1 decided on going with a later date, the complaint said.
The father of the Islamic Ideologue then told him not to wait and suggested doing “the good deed now,” according to the complaint.
The FBI agent said he believes that Person 1 contacted the father of the Islamic Ideologue for some guidance on when to carry out their planned attack, and based on the guidance, Person 1 and Ali decided that they shouldn’t delay their plan.
What’s next
Mahmoud and Ali appeared in federal court on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.
They remain in custody and are scheduled to be back in court on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, for detention hearings.