The attack in St. Cloud occurred the same evening that an explosion rocked New York City’s bustling Chelsea district on Saturday, injuring 29 people in what authorities described as a deliberate criminal act.
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The man who stabbed nine people at a mall in the northern US state of Minnesota has been identified as a 22-year-old Somali-American.
The attack ended when the suspect, who was identified by his father as Dahir Adan, was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer.
Another community activist, Abdul Kulane, told VOA that Adan was known to the community, and was a “smart and reliable person”.
Investigators will look at the suspect’s social media and electronic devices and talk to friends and family to see what motivated him to do what he did, Thornton said.
An ISIS run-news agency claimed a connection to the attack, calling the man a “soldier of the Islamic State”, as NPR’s Alison Meuse reports.
The assailant was killed by an off-duty police officer, who officials praised at a press conference today.
Authorities are investigating the stabbings of nine people at a central Minnesota mall as a potential act of terrorism, a finding that would be the realization of long-held fears of a domestic attack there. She added that “ISIS often claims responsibility for attacks after the fact and it is not immediately clear whether they planned this attack or had advance knowledge of it”. Anderson said Falconer fired as the attacker was lunging at him with the knife, and continued to engage him as the attacker got up three times. It was only last year-coincidentally, in St. Cloud-when Governor Mark Dayton warned Minnesotans concerned about the state’s ever-growing Somali population to pack up and move on.
“The FBI is actively engaged at the scene with the St. Cloud Police Department”, the bureau said in a statement Sunday.
The mall reopened Monday after being closed Sunday.
Harley and Tama Exsted of Isle were in St. Cloud to watch their son play in a college golf tournament and were in the mall when the attack happened.
The officer, identified as Jason Falconer, fatally shot an individual after he stabbed nine people in what authorities are investigating as a potential act of “terrorism” at the Crossroads Mall on Saturday.
FBI investigators told the media the bomb detonated and a device found nearby were both shrapnel-filled pressure cookers. Anderson told reporters the man referenced Allah during the attack. In recent years, the community there has faced conflicts with other Minnesota residents, including incidents that have led to damage to mosques and opposition toward at least one new house of worship, according to the StarTribune.
“Whoever placed these bombs – we will find them and they will be brought to justice”, Cuomo said, according to BBC News.
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St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said three remained in hospital with one being treated for life-threatening injuries.
