Leaders of the Somali community in central Minnesota are condemning the stabbing of nine people at a mall.
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Meanwhile, St. Cloud Technical and Community College says Adan was never a student there, as has been reported. They said the suspect does not represent the larger Somali community, and they expressed fear about backlash over the attack.
The man’s father identified the suspect as Dahir Adan in an interview with the Star Tribune.
Falconer, who was off-duty and happened to be at the mall Saturday night, is also a former chief of police in Albany, Minnesota.
Their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening. St. Cloud University confirms he attended school there, but has not been enrolled since spring 2016.
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.
Authorities didn’t identify the attacker. He would not say which agency employs the officer. We are thankful for the officer whose heroic actions saved lives and prevented further injuries, and to all the law enforcement and emergency responders for their good work as well.
For years, law enforcement officials have anxious that young Somalis who embrace radical messages might carry out violence in the U.S. While the motive in Saturday’s stabbings isn’t yet known, if it turns out to be a terrorist attack, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on U.S. soil, said Karen Greenburg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law. He said that he had “no suspicion” of his son being involved in any terrorist activity.
A Daesh-run news agency, Rasd, reported Sunday that the terror group was taking responsibility for the attack, calling the perpetrator its “soldier”. Authorities were digging into the attacker’s background and possible motives, looking at social media accounts, his electronic devices and talking to his associates, Thornton said.
“Officer Falconer was there at the right time and the right place”, Kleis said.
“We are the victims of those terrorist groups”, he said. She told the St. Cloud Times that she and her friends were walking down a hallway toward Sears when they heard a loud scream.
Makarral says she saw people walking around inside with blood on them.
Their mother, who is still in OH, asked Dominic to text her a photo from inside the mall to show he’s safe, and he did, Bellow said.
The mall remained on lockdown following the incident, but authorities expected those remaining inside to be released early Sunday.
Bellow said his brother, whose shift was about a half-hour from ending when the violence broke out, sent him a text that said there was a shooter in the mall.
St. Cloud Mayor David Kleis said the suspect, whom officials are not naming at this time, lunged at Jason Falconer, a part-time police officer in Avon, Minnesota, west of St. Cloud. Three people were admitted, according to Chris Nelson, spokeswoman for St. Cloud Hospital. Inside the mall, he made a reference to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before he attacked. He said the attacker made reference to Allah as he carried out the stabbings.
The attack was reported about 8:15 p.m. and Anderson says the time between the first 911 call and when the suspect was killed was approximately five minutes.
The bulletin went on to say that the attack had been perpetrated in response to the group’s call to “target citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition”, a term referring to the US-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against the group.
It was not immediately clear if the extremist group had planned the attack or even knew about it beforehand.
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Shortly after, an officer confronted the attacker.
