A man in a private secu. 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.
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ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) He was a recent college student and had worked part time.
“I’ve been trying to stay away from it all, for the time being”, he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Haji Yusuf, community director for the social tolerance group UniteCloud, has been working with the family of 20-year-old Dahir Adan. “If that changes, we will be transparent about that”.
Police in St. Cloud said the attacker was dressed in a private security guard uniform and had made some references to Allah before the stabbing spree. He says his training is also beneficial for “responsible citizens” who might find themselves in life-threatening peril.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack which took place at a shopping mall in the city of St Cloud. The group has also lowered its expectations for a successful attack, which they say now includes using a knife, machete or even auto attacks.
Dayton met with St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis and other city officials before the news conference. Hours before that, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, N.J., shortly before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity 5K race. But President Barack Obama said Monday that authorities see no connection between the NY area explosions and the Minnesota stabbing.
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.
According to the Associated Press on Sunday, an Islamic State-run news agency claimed the suspect was a “soldier of the Islamic State”, saying the attacker had heeded calls from the extremist group for attacks in countries that are part of a US -led anti-IS coalition. The attack was reported at around 8:15 p.m. He said police didn’t mention the attack on the mall, but they seized photos and other materials from the family’s apartment. However, Ahmed Adan has stated he had “no suspicion” his son was involved with terrorism. And he had nothing more than a minor traffic citation on his record.
Electrolux Home Products’ spokeswoman Eloise Hale said Monday that the man was an employee of the security firm Securitas and was assigned for a few months to an Electrolux facility.
A spokesman for St. Cloud State University confirmed that Adan was a student there, but that he hadn’t been enrolled since the spring semester.
“As we mourn the death of our son, Dahir Adan, who was very dear to us, we are in deep shock as everyone else is in the state of Minnesota”, the statement said. The victims included seven men, one woman and a 15-year-old girl. All have been released. The rampage ended when the man was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer.
“He clearly prevented additional injuries and potential loss of life”, Anderson said.
KDLT News reached out to The Empire Mall Monday to speak about safety and security. “I just kept screaming someone call 911 someone call 911 there’s somebody in the mall stabbing people and everybody just kind of panicked running around screaming I was yelling at co-workers and other shoppers to get out of the mall, get cover because there was somebody stabbing people in the mall”. “Our job is to make sure they all get the same level of professionalism and safety”. “Someone has a knife, ‘” Weires said.
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St. Cloud’s Somali community said the man had a good reputation and was on his way to buy the new iPhone 7.
