Obama, in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, told reporters that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was treating the mall attack as a “potential act of terrorism”.
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(St. Cloud Times/Jason Wachter via AP). Associated Press writers Kyle Potter and John Mone contributed from St. Cloud, Minnesota.
“If it happens in St. Cloud, it could happen in Fargo”, Mayor Tim Mahoney said.
Albany Police Chief Osvaldo Carbajal, who took over for Falconer more than three years ago, said people who want to protect themselves should not stop with getting a gun and a concealed weapon permit.
The Somali community in the U.S. state of Minnesota braced for a backlash after a man who stabbed 10 people in a mall over the weekend was identified as one of their own. Hospital officials on Monday said all the other victims had been treated and released.
An Islamic State-run news agency, Rasd, claimed Sunday that the attacker was a “soldier of the Islamic State” who had heeded the group’s calls for attacks in countries that are part of a US -led anti-IS coalition.
The Islamic State also claimed responsibility, though it wasn’t immediately clear if the extremist group had planned the attack or even knew about it beforehand. Likewise, St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson told CNN on Sunday he was unable to confirm if the mall stabbings were anything more than a lone attack.
Speaking in NY on Monday, President Barack Obama said there is no known connection between the stabbing attack in Minnesota and the explosions in NY and New Jersey.
Leaders of the Somali community in central Minnesota condemned the stabbings Sunday, saying the suspect – identified by his father as 22-year-old Dahir A. Adan – does not represent them and expressing fear of backlash.
Jaylani Hussein, executive director for the Council of American-Islamic Relations Minnesota said leaders are starting a hashtag for social media #stcloudtogether.
Adan had a stellar reputation in St. Cloud’s close-knit Somali community, said Yussuf, who is a director at #unitedcloud, a group that works to resolve tensions in St. Cloud.
According to Anderson, Adan “reportedly made references to Allah during the attack and asked at least one person whether they were Muslim”.
A spokesman for the family, Abdi Wahid Osman, read from a statement expressing condolences for the injured and anyone else affected.
FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Rick Thornton said at a news conference Sunday that authorities are digging into the suspect’s background to determine his possible motivation.
Authorities in Minnesota are still exploring the possibility that terrorist groups have reached out to members of the large Somali community in the state.
“I implore the citizens of St. Cloud and the citizens of Minnesota to rise above this incident and remember our common humanity”, Dayton said.
Falconer was in the mall shopping, and happened to be in “right place at the right time”, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said.
In response to this weekend’s stabbings, members of the Muslim and Somali communities held a news conference Sunday to mourn the victims and call for unity. A 2011 agreement resolved the case, but the U.S. Department of Education still was monitoring the case a year ago. Terror recruiters have targeted young Somalis: More than 20 young men have left the state since 2007 to join al-Shabab in Somalia; the US considers the eastern Africa militant group a terrorist group. U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters at a news conference the FBI was investigating the attack as a “potential act of terrorism”.
Adan had recently worked part-time by the security firm Securitas, and he was assigned for a few months to an Electrolux factory near the mall, Electrolux spokeswoman Eloise Hale said. Though ISIS claims Adan was a “soldier” working on their behalf, his father told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he had “no suspicion” his son was involved in terrorist activities. Adan stabbed one woman, seven men, and a 15-year-old girl, before being shot to death by Jason Falconer, former chief of police who was at the scene.
Yusuf, who has spoken with Adan’s parents, said Adan went to the mall to pick up an iPhone.
A person at the T-Mobile store where Yusuf said Adan had gone declined to comment or take a message for his supervisor.
“If I was going to ask anybody to fire live rounds in a crowded mall, I would trust his abilities next to anybody’s”, he said.
The Crossroads Mall is expected to reopen Monday. Forliti reported from Minneapolis.
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Harley and Tama Exsted of Isle, who were in St. Cloud Saturday to watch their son play in a college golf tournament at Blackberry Ridge, were in the mall when the incident occurred.
