He was a recent college student and had worked part time.
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Experts say that if Saturday’s stabbings are ultimately deemed a terrorist act, it would be the first carried out by a Somali on US soil.
St. Cloud police had three previous interactions with Adan for minor incidents like traffic violations, according to Anderson.
But on Saturday, for reasons still unclear, authorities say Dahir Ahmed Adan went to a central Minnesota mall and cut or stabbed 10 people before he was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. A man in a private security uniform stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping mall Saturday, reportedly asking one victim if they were Muslim before an off-duty police officer shot and killed him in an attack the Islamic State group claimed as its own. The FBI is investigating the stabbings as a potential terrorist act.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The day after a young Somali-American man stabbed 10 people at a central Minnesota mall, pickup trucks were spotted driving through predominantly Somali neighborhoods, honking and waving Confederate flags – highlighting the precarious bond between the thousands of Somalis who live in St. Cloud and other city residents.
The aftermath of Saturday’s attack at Crossroads Center Mall in St. Cloud also is testing longstanding efforts to improve strained relations between the city’s Somali community and other residents.
According to Haji Yussuf, a local community leader who spoke to the family, Adan left no obvious clues. St. Cloud, Minn., Police Chief William Blair Anderson and other officials hold a press conference Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, giving updated information on the Crossroads Center incident at the St. Cloud Police Depar. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis called Adan “an individual clearly bent on evil” at a news conference on Tuesday.
“We have a thirst for answers”, said Abdul Kulane, a community advocate in the St. Cloud area. But President Barack Obama said Monday that authorities see no connection between the NY area explosions and the Minnesota stabbing. An Islamic State-run news agency 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, but it wasn’t immediately known whether the extremist group had planned the attack or knew about it beforehand.
Gov. Mark Dayton, who traveled to St. Cloud, says Obama called him Monday morning to express concern about the stabbing and offer any assistance. Falconer shot Adan dead, and authorities believe his quick action saved lives.
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.
According to police, he asked at least one person if they were Muslim and made references to Allah while carrying out the stabbings. “Well then, the officer fired the fatal blow”. None of the injuries are life-threatening, authorities said.
Leaders of Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the nation, were quick to condemn the attack.
The stabbing coincided with a bombing in Manhattan that injured 29 people on Saturday, and the discovery of five more bombs near a train station in New Jersey late Sunday night.
“To me, in watching it, it looks like a training video for law enforcement – what law enforcement should do”.
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While an ISIS-affiliated media outlet claimed the attacker was a “soldier” of the terror group, no evidence has emerged to suggest ISIS had a hand in planning or executing the attack.
