At approximately 8:30P, an unidentified man walked into Crossroads Center and began to stab several individuals in the mall.
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Nine people were wounded Saturday in the attack in the city of St. Cloud before an off-duty policeman shot and killed the attacker.
“I said last night, ‘Not in St. Cloud”. He said he is not ready to describe the stabbings as a terrorist attack until details such as a motive are established.
Kleis says there were nine people who were hurt, not eight, as authorities previously reported.
Members of the Somali-American community in St Cloud held a news conference on Sunday to condemn the attack.
Early this morning, the terrorist organization known as ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack calling the suspect an ISIS Solider.
The man’s father identified the suspect as Dahir Adan in an interview with the Star Tribune. Adan was shot dead by an off-duty police officer.
Seven male and two female victims were stabbed, ranging in age from a 15-year-old girl to a 53-year-old man, said officials.
Sydney Weires, Maggie Gelke and Jenna Remmele, students at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, were bored and made a decision to go to the mall.
Falconer “was there at the right time and the right place”, St Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said.
Adan, 22, was born in Africa but has lived in the United States for 15 years, his father, Ahmed Adan, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
“The individual we believe to be responsible for the victim’s stab wounds is now deceased inside the mall”, police said early Sunday. He said an off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction shot and killed the suspect, though he didn’t say where that officer serves. None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries.
Two local newspapers – the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Cloud Times – identified the suspect as Dahir Adan.
The Islamic State group claims the attack was their own, but it is unclear if they even knew of the attack before it happened.
Dahir A. Adan, 22, is said to be a Somalian “soldier of the Islamic State” who emigrated from Africa to the USA with his family 15 years ago.
The FBI confirmed Sunday they are investigating the stabbing as a possible act of terrorism, but have released no additional information on the investigation.
At a news conference Sunday afternoon, the mayor and police chief praised Falconer, a part-time officer and former police chief of Albany, Minnesota, for taking action.
“The officer then fired a few rounds”, Kleis said.
Weires says she and her friends ran out of the mall. Activist Lul Hersi said she had feared for her one of her sons when she heard about the attack, and was relieved when he arrived home that night. “They were screaming, ‘Get out of the mall”.
When the stabbings began, Bayne ran out to the parking lot and took off in her auto, crying and shaking in the aftermath of an event she never thought would happen there. All were expected to survive.
The lone suspect was wearing a private security uniform and had at least one knife, the police chief said.
“You saw him lunge at the police officer”. Three remained hospitalized. The others were released. All of a sudden these people started running.
Media were clearly hesitant to label the attack as Islamist terror, saying only that he had “referenced Allah” during the attack and asked at least one victim if they were Muslim.
An ISIS-affiliated news outlet claimed that the attacker was “a soldier of the Islamic State”, according to global security firm and NBC News analyst Flashpoint Intelligence.
Extremist groups, which have carried out coordinated assault across Europe, has repeatedly threatened to attack the US. All but one was later released.
St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson said investigators have executed search warrants at a residence in St. Cloud.
The attacks shattered a sedate evening at Crossroads Centre, the largest mall in Minnesota outside Minneapolis and St Paul.
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