In a statement Sunday, Amaq News Agency said the suspect “carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition”.
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ISIS has used similar language following incidents in which the group did not have prior knowledge or any kind of direct connection to the attack, and it is unclear how the organization may have been linked to the event in Minnesota.
Ahmed Adan told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that police told him Saturday night that his son, Dahir A. Adan, died at Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud.
The ISIS claims come at a time when there is not only heightened levels of fear and panic in the USA regarding the safety of public spaces, but also daily instances like the explosion in Chelsea in NY where almost 29 were injured. He was a junior at St. Cloud State University and was a part-time private security officer. Spokesman Adam Hammer said Adan’s intended major was information systems, which is a computer-related field. The father added that police raided his apartment Sunday morning and seized photos and other materials, but they said nothing to him about the stabbings at the mall.
The mayor and police chief also praised off-duty Avon police officer Jason Falconer for killing the suspect as the assailant threatened other people in the mall attack. The suspect was wearing a private security uniform, officials said.
An off-duty police officer shot and killed the suspect.
“We still don’t have anything substantive that would suggest anything more than what we know already, which is this was a lone attacker”, St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday.
“Officer Falconer was there at the right time and the right place”, he said. He reportedly mentioned Allah and asked if a victim was Muslim before attacking. Initially police believed 8 people were stabbed, but a 9th victim later turned up at a different hospital in Long Prairie, Minnesota.
The Somali leaders stressed the suspect in Saturday night’s attack does not represent the larger Somali Community. She later called and said she was safe in a secured area.
Target employees huddled in the mens’ clothing department, Bellow said his brother had communicated by text message.
The Somali-American community there has struggled for years with the draw of extremism for some of its young people.
“The Minnesota Muslim community condemns all such acts of violence as inexcusable and un-Islamic”, said CAIR-MN Executive Director Jaylani Hussein.
There also were reports of some shots fired during the attack. Around 9pm CST, news outlets reported a bombing in New York City, a Pipe Bomb explosion at a Marine 5K run in New Jersey, and a confirmed terrorist attack in St. Cloud, Minnesota. A suspicious device was found a few blocks away and safely removed.
The St. Cloud mall remained on lockdown following the attack, but authorities expected those remaining inside to be released early Sunday. Three of them are hospitalized, and one is in life-threatening condition.
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Danny Carranza was watching his children at the play area when the attack started, he told the Saint Cloud Times.
