The FBI sold him the rifle. Then it arrested him.

A young man in Minnesota said he wanted to hurt people at a very big mall. The police had been watching him for almost two years, the way a lifeguard watches one swimmer. When he tried to buy a gun, the seller was a police officer, and they arrested him right there. Nobody was hurt. The grown-ups have it.

Why it worksShielded: a seven-year-old can do nothing with a plan to kill, and takes one vivid feature for the whole event, so the script gives neither the number nor the target. The lifeguard is the anchor: an adult watching before anything went wrong. Expect “could it happen at our mall?” The FBI watched this one for two years.

Also written for 8–12 and 13–17.

An 18-year-old told someone online he would attack the Mall of America on October 24. That someone reported to the FBI, which had watched him for two years. When he went to buy a rifle, the seller was an agent: $600, an AK-47, arrested on the spot. A goalkeeper standing where the shot would go.

Why it worksThis age is working out cause and effect, so the script hands them the chain in order: messages to an informant, two years of watching, a sale that was a trap, an arrest. The goalkeeper was in place before the shot. Expect “isn’t that a trick?” It is. The FBI says he picked the date and the target first.

Also written for 5–7 and 13–17.

If the FBI sells you the rifle, did it stop an attack or build one? An 18-year-old messaged an informant for two years, picked the Mall of America, paid an agent $600 for an AK-47. Arrested. Second: the FBI warned his parents in May 2025. His father sent them to a lawyer. What should yours do?

Why it worksA teenager can hold two true things: the FBI watched a young man say for two years that he would kill, and the FBI put the rifle in his hands. Kuhn calls honest argument a skill they practise, so the script asks it straight, then turns to the parents who were warned. Expect “would you have let them in?” Say what you’d do.

Also written for 5–7 and 8–12.