PORTLAND, Ore. — The Somali-born university student met with an undercover FBI agent in August at a Portland hotel and told him he had found the perfect location for a terrorist attack: the city's annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Mohamed Osman Mohamud told the agent that he had dreamed of carrying out an attack for years, and the city's Pioneer Courthouse Square would be packed with thousands, "a huge mass that will ... be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays," according to an affidavit.
On Friday, Mohamud parked what he thought was a bomb-laden van near the ceremony and then went to a nearby train station, where he dialed a cell phone that he believed would detonate the vehicle. Instead, federal authorities moved in and arrested him. No one was hurt.
The case is the latest in a string of alleged terrorist plots by U.S. citizens or residents, including one at Times Square in which a Pakistan-born man pleaded guilty earlier this year to trying to set off a car bomb at a busy street corner.
Officials said Mohamud had no formal ties to foreign terror groups, although he had reached out to suspected terrorists in Pakistan.
Authorities have not explained how a young Muslim man described by friends as an average university student who drank an occasional beer and hung out with fraternity friends became radicalized.
Mohamud is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, and it wasn't clear if he had a lawyer yet.
FBI agents say they began investigating after receiving a tip from an unidentified person who expressed concern about Mohamud. The Washington Post reported that the tip came from a member of the Muslim community.
At 15, he told undercover agents, he made a prayer for guidance, "about whether I should ... go, you know, and make jihad in a different country or to make like an operation here."
Mohamud graduated from high school in Beaverton. In a science class, he once gave presentation on how a rocket-propelled grenade worked, NBC station KGW-TV reported.
One of Mohamud's former classmates told KGW of an argument the pair had over a messy locker. "The main thing was, the way he said he hated Americans," said Andy Stull. "It was serious. He looked me in the eye and had this look in his eye, like it was his determination in life – 'I hate Americans!'"
Mohamud dropped out of Oregon State University in Corvallis on Oct. 6, the school said. He hadn't declared a major.
Yosof Wanly, imam at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis, said Mohamud was a normal student who went to athletic events, drank the occasional beer and was into rap music and culture.
Wanly said Mohamud was religious but didn't come to the mosque consistently. Meanwhile, authorities say arson caused a fire at that same mosque early Sunday morning. Carla Pusateri, a fire prevention officer for the Corvallis Fire Department, said "quite a bit of evidence" was left at the scene, which led her to believe the fire was intentionally set. No injuries have been reported.
The fire on Sunday was contained to one room, burning 80 percent of the center's office, Wanly said. The worship areas were untouched.
Beginning in August 2009, court documents allege, Mohamud began e-mail communications with a friend overseas who had studied in Oregon, asking how he could travel to Pakistan and join the fight for jihad.
The e-mail exchanges led the FBI to believe that Mohamud's friend in Pakistan "had joined others involved in terrorist activities" and was inviting Mohamud to join him, prosecutors say.
