A man who wounded eight people in a knife attack on Saturday at a mall in central Minnesota in the U.S. before he was shot dead by an off-duty police officer is a “soldier of the Islamic State”, the militant group’s news agency has said.
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The St. Cloud Times reports that the mall has been walled off by a “major police presence”, and that multiple people have been stabbed.
The eight wounded were taken to St. Cloud Hospital but none were believed to have life-threatening injuries, said Chris Nelson, a communications specialist for the medical facility.
St Cloud is 70 miles (112km) north-west of Minneapolis.
Authorities say all of the injured are expected to survive. He said he is not ready to describe the stabbings as a terrorist attack until details such as a motive are established. The suspect, police say, is dead, though they have not provided more information.
“All of a sudden I heard pop pop pop”, Harley said.
Anderson said an off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction shot and killed the unidentified suspect, who was armed with a knife and wearing a private security firm uniform at the time of the attack. Seven people were treated and released from an area hospital and one was admitted.
Bellow said his brother, whose shift was about a half-hour from ending when the violence broke out, sent him a text from inside Target that said there was a shooter in the mall.
He then went on to stab the eight victims in several locations in the mall, including corridors, businesses and common areas. “There was a bunch of people running into the JCPenney mall entrance, and they were just screaming that someone was going around the mall stabbing people, and that there was blood everywhere”.
Eight people were injured when the suspect, who was reportedly dressed like a security guard, began his attacks.
The girls left the mall before the lockdown was implemented and saw a police auto arriving as they left the mall parking lot, Weires said. “I just saw everybody running our way”.
Bayne said she ran out to the parking lot and took off in her auto.
“She called me on the phone and told me she was hiding under the counter with a customer”, Samuels said.
Mr Samuels remained outside, watching for her.
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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she had been briefed about the Minnesota stabbing as well as Saturday’s explosions in NY and a pipe bomb blast hours earlier in a trash can in New Jersey in which no one was injured.
