Federal authorities say a University of Delaware student painstakingly outlined a plan to target the university’s police department, leaving behind written details that investigators discovered during his arrest and a subsequent raid on his home.
Fox News reported that the Justice Department said 25-year-old Luqmaan Khan was taken into custody last week following a traffic stop in New Castle County.
Officers allegedly recovered a .357 caliber Glock handgun loaded with 27 rounds, along with three additional extended magazines, an armored ballistic plate, and two notebooks.
“In the handwritten notebook, Khan discussed additional weapons and firearms, how they could be used in an attack, and how law enforcement detection could be avoided once an attack was carried out,” the DOJ said in a statement.
Investigators said the pages included a diagram labeled “UD Police Station,” complete with entry and exit points and a reference to a University of Delaware police officer by name.
The materials also contained what prosecutors described as warfare techniques and assault plans, along with layouts of university buildings.
After Khan’s arrest, the FBI searched his Wilmington home. There, agents reportedly found a Glock 19 handgun equipped with an illegal machinegun conversion device known as a “switch.”
Agents also seized a .556 rifle with optics, 11 more extended magazines, hollow-point ammunition, and a tactical vest outfitted with a ballistic plate, according to the Justice Department.
Khan now faces a federal charge for illegal possession of a machine gun, an offense that carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
In a letter to the campus community, University of Delaware interim President Laura Carlson confirmed that Khan was enrolled as an undergraduate student.
“The University has temporarily separated the student from the University, including a ban from all UD campuses while legal matters are being resolved,” Carlson wrote. She added that the school had been working closely with law enforcement since the investigation began.
“There are no known or immediate threats to the University of Delaware community,” she said, though she acknowledged the nature of the allegations was deeply unsettling. “This is frightening to all of us.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Julianne E. Murray praised the multi-agency response, saying the case shows “federal and state law enforcement collaborating to neutralize a grave threat to Delaware before the worst could come to pass.”
