Police Foil School Shooting Plot Targeting University of Delaware

Some criminal plans are unraveled by brilliant detective work, and some collapse because the would-be offender made the mistake of parking someplace he wasn’t supposed to be. The case of 25-year-old University of Delaware student Luqmaan Khan falls squarely into the latter category.

It all started late on November 24th, when New Castle County officers rolled up on a white Toyota Tacoma sitting in Canby Park West after hours. That alone wasn’t enough to spark a major investigation, but Khan’s behavior did the rest. He was visibly nervous, avoided eye contact, and kept reaching toward the same spot. When officers told him to step out of the vehicle, he refused. When they tried to remove him, he resisted. Within minutes, he was in custody, already proving that all the notes he later wrote about “avoiding law enforcement detection” didn’t amount to much when applied in real life.

Once officers searched the truck, the situation escalated dramatically. Instead of a kid smoking weed or someone trying to sleep in their car, police found what amounted to a mobile staging ground for violence. A handgun had been illegally modified with a machine-gun conversion device capable of firing roughly 1,200 rounds per minute, the kind of fire rate you’d expect from a belt-fed weapon on a battlefield, not something slapped onto a pistol in the back of a pickup. A .357 Glock loaded with 27 rounds was also inside, along with additional fully loaded magazines, extra ammunition, a ballistic plate, body armor, binoculars, and a laptop. None of the firearms were registered.

However, the most disturbing discovery wasn’t the hardware. It was the notebook. Inside were handwritten entries laying out attack strategies, weapons capabilities, shooting-range notes, and diagrams of the University of Delaware Police Department, including marked entry and exit points. There were notes about surprise attacks, multiple attack directions, ways to escape after carrying out violence, and even “no noise kills” achieved with blades instead of firearms. One page referenced “battle efficiency: kill all – martyrdom,” and another listed a UD police officer by name. This wasn’t idle fantasy scribbling. It was structured planning, informed by research, and steeped in a kind of violent ambition that rarely resolves on its own.

During an interview with police and the FBI, Khan allegedly said outright that becoming a martyr is “one of the greatest things you can do,” a personal goal, not just a passing thought. That phrasing alone will be enough to ignite speculation, and here’s where I need to say the thing nobody wants to say out loud. I sincerely hope this has nothing to do with Islam. Not because it would make the crime any better or worse, but because an administration already eager to cast suspicion on Muslim communities does not need more rhetorical ammunition. Khan was born in Pakistan but has been a U.S. citizen since childhood. If this case ends up being twisted into a political talking point, it’ll be ordinary, innocent Muslims, such as students, parents, and community members, who pay the price.

The investigation didn’t end at the park. Federal agents raided Khan’s Wilmington home the next day. Neighbors described an explosion of flash bangs and shattered windows as the FBI entered. Inside, agents found another handgun equipped with an illegal “switch” to convert it into a machine gun, along with a rifle fitted with a scope and red-dot sight, ten extended magazines, hollow-point ammunition, a ballistic vest with two plates, and more tactical gear. This wasn’t a hobbyist’s collection. It was a stockpile.

What’s notable is that Khan had no prior convictions. To neighbors, he was a barber who used to be friendly before becoming withdrawn in recent months. To the university, he was an undergraduate. To anyone who hadn’t read his notebook, he looked ordinary. And yet he was able to accumulate enough firepower and equipment to outfit himself like a paramilitary operator without raising any flags.

And here’s the part that the ‘responsible gun owners’™ never want to talk about. If any of these weapons were obtained on the street, they began their lives as part of somebody’s lawful collection. That means they were originally owned by the fabled “good guy with a gun” who later lost it, sold it improperly, or failed to secure it. Guns don’t magically sprout into existence in alleyways; they flow from lawful markets into unlawful ones through the cracks created by negligent or irresponsible ownership. If these firearms were bought legally and then modified, that’s another indictment of how easily conversion kits and high-capacity magazines circulate with barely a speed bump.

This case will move through federal and state courts in the coming months. But regardless of the outcome, it raises a larger, more troubling issue. How many others could be quietly amassing similar arsenals, completely invisible until the moment they aren’t? That should worry everyone, from students to university administrators.

Because next time, we might not get as lucky as a truck in a park after dark.

(Sources)