Detroit, MI – May 17, 2025 — A 19-year-old Melvindale resident and former member of the Michigan Army National Guard has been arrested and charged with attempting to carry out a mass shooting at a U.S. military installation in Michigan on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said was taken into custody on May 13 near the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) facility at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan. According to a federal criminal complaint unsealed today, Said was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to the construction or use of a destructive device.
Authorities allege that Said planned and actively supported what he believed would be a deadly attack on the TACOM facility, a key logistics and development center for the U.S. Army. Said allegedly provided armor-piercing ammunition and weapons magazines, conducted drone surveillance over the base for operational planning, trained others in firearms use and incendiary device construction, and helped coordinate specific tactical details for the attack.
The plan was thwarted by federal authorities working undercover. Said reportedly discussed his intentions and support for ISIS with two undercover FBI agents who he believed were preparing to execute the attack under ISIS direction. He was arrested after launching a drone near the facility on the day the attack was scheduled to occur.
“This defendant is charged with planning a deadly attack on a U.S. military base here at home for ISIS,” said Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement, we foiled the attack before lives were lost. We will not hesitate to bring the full force of the Department to find and prosecute those who seek to harm our men and women in uniform and to protect all Americans.”
“ISIS is a brutal terrorist organization that seeks to kill Americans,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. for the Eastern District of Michigan. “Providing support to such a group is not only a grave federal crime, it is a direct threat to our national security. Our office will aggressively prosecute anyone who engages in terrorism.”
Assistant Director Donald M. Holstead of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division credited the swift action of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and their partners. “The FBI is steadfast in our commitment to detect and disrupt terrorist plots targeting the United States,” he said.
Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, commanding general of Army Counterintelligence Command, called the arrest a “sobering reminder of the importance of our counterintelligence efforts.” He praised the collaboration between Army investigators and the FBI, and urged all military personnel to remain vigilant and report any suspicious behavior.
Said made his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan today. Prosecutors are seeking pretrial detention, citing both the severity of the charges and the defendant’s potential flight risk.
If convicted, Said faces up to 20 years in prison for each charge.
The investigation is being led by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Salzenstein of the Eastern District of Michigan and Trial Attorneys John Cella and Charles Kovats of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
