Pakistani national arrested at University of Delaware over alleged mass shooting plans, ‘martyrdom’ manifesto

25-year-old Luqmaan Khan, a former student at the school, was arrested on November 24 after police found him in a pickup truck in a park after hours. Officers searched his vehicle after noticing suspicious behavior and found a .357 Glock, numerous loaded magazines, and body armor. Police also discovered a notebook that appeared to contain plans for a shooting as well as an alleged manifesto praising "martyrdom."

The notebook included notes on using the weapons against the university’s campus police department, as well as a hand-drawn map of the department’s headquarters marked with entrances and exits. The notebook also had details on how to evade capture.

Khan’s motive was not immediately clear, although one campus police officer was singled out in the plans for unknown reasons. After his arrest, he allegedly told police that being a martyr was “one of the greatest things you can do,” according to reporting by the New York Post.

Khan is a Pakistani immigrant who has been in the United States since he was a “youth” and is now a US citizen. After he was taken into custody, the FBI searched his home in Wilmington and found more weapons, including an AR-style rifle, another Glock equipped with a device that converted it to fully automatic fire, eleven additional extended magazines, and a bulletproof vest. None of the weapons found in Khan’s possession were registered.

Police officials emphasized how fortunate they were to have encountered Khan by chance. New Castle Police Master Cpl. Richard Chambers said, “They just randomly drove up in the Canby Park West, and when they located the vehicle in the park, once they made contact with the individual, rather than just shooing the person out, saying, ‘Hey, the park is closed,’ they did police work.”