A man from Pakistan accused of plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center in New York while residing in the Greater Toronto Area is set to go on trial this spring. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 21, made an appearance at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, with his jury trial scheduled to commence on May 26, 2026. If found guilty, he could potentially face life imprisonment.
Khan was apprehended by heavily armed officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police close to a gas station in Ormstown, Quebec, last year after allegedly paying a human trafficker to assist him in crossing the U.S. border. He is facing two terrorism-related charges for an alleged ISIS-inspired scheme to carry out a shooting at an undisclosed Jewish center in Brooklyn, planned to coincide with the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Following his extradition to the U.S., Khan pleaded not guilty earlier this year. Immigration records obtained from a Canadian parliamentary committee revealed that Khan had been granted a study permit in April 2023 and arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport in June of the same year. Despite no identified risk indicators in the federal immigration department’s security assessment, further screening by intelligence services CSIS or the Canada Border Services Agency was not conducted on Khan’s file.
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated, “We will prosecute this man to the fullest extent of the law,” in June. Khan’s social media activity under the alias “Shahzeb Jadoon” had attracted the attention of an FBI informant in October 2023, just four months after he relocated to the Toronto area. In encrypted chats, Khan allegedly mentioned plans for a significant attack on U.S. soil.
Evidence presented in Quebec Superior Court during the extradition process indicated that Khan had requested potential accomplices to obtain weapons and ammunition, including hunting knives, camouflage attire, tactical gear, AR-style rifles, and large quantities of ammunition. Concurrently, a self-proclaimed immigration consultant in Mississauga, Ontario, disclosed that Khan had been in the process of seeking refugee status in Canada based on claims of his sexual orientation.
Khan informed the Quebec court in February of his decision to be extradited to face trial in New York. He purportedly wrote, “Brothers … we are going to NYC to slaughter them.”
