Jason Falconer stopped the knife-wielding suspect after the attacker lunged at Falconer while he was shopping inside the mall.
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The off-duty officer who shot the assailant said the man asked at least one of the victims if they were Muslim before stabbing them.
None of the victims had life-threatening wounds.
“We do not at this point in time know whether the subject was in contact with, had connections with, was inspired by a foreign terrorist organization, that’s what the investigation is attempting to ascertain”, FBI Special Agent Richard T. Thornton says. I join the chorus of voices across our state expressing gratitude for the swift action of citizens and first responders – those individuals exemplify what it means to be Minnesotan. We’ll look at his social media, we’ll look at his electronic devices, we’ll talk to his associates.
The man was employed by the security firm Securitas and had worked a temporary assignment that ended in June as a guard at the Electrolux Home Products store in the mall, Eletrolux spokeswoman Eloise Hale said.
An explosion rocked New York City’s bustling Chelsea district on Saturday, injuring 29 people in what authorities described as a deliberate criminal act.
The man believed to be behind a bombing in New York City, Seaside Park, New Jersey and an attempted bombing in Elizabeth, NJ, was captured Monday morning.
President Barack Obama says there is no apparent connection between the stabbings at a mall in Minnesota and the bombings in NY and New Jersey.
Harley and Tama Exsted of Isle, Minnesota, who were in St. Cloud to watch their son play in a college golf tournament, were in the mall when the incident occurred.
Anderson said the suspect acted alone.
“We strongly condemn what happened last night”, Haji Yussuf, a St. Cloud Somali community leader, said at the press conference.
St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson says there’s nothing yet to suggest that it more than “was a lone attacker” that stabbed nine people at a Minnesota mall over the weekend.
The community has been a target for terror recruiters in recent years.
Eleven Somali-Americans living in Minnesota have been charged since 2014 in an alleged plot to travel to Syria and join Isis. I am deeply grateful to the heroic law enforcement officer, whose swift response prevented an even worse attack.
Still, Anderson and federal authorities are wary of jumping to conclusions, with the FBI terming the attacks a “potential act of terrorism”. That was before the Islamic State began urging “lone wolf” attacks in countries that are part of a USA -led coalition against their group.
Authorities didn’t identify the attacker, but the Star Tribune of Minneapolis said the man’s father identified him as Dahir A. Adan, 22. They have said such attacks don’t represent the larger Somali community and that they fear a backlash against Somalis in the state. CNN was also unable to confirm if he was Somali.
A spokesman for St. Cloud State University confirmed that Adan was a student there, but had not been enrolled since the spring semester.
Ashley fled the mall and drove away before police put it on lockdown.
Among the injured were a 15-year-old girl, a 50-year-old woman and men from ages 20 to 53, Kleis said. All of those who were injured have been released from a hospital.
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An off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction confronted the suspect and fatally shot him, police said.
