Last Saturday evening in a mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, a man later identified as 22-year-old Dahir A. Adan stabbed 9 people before being fatally shot by an off-duty police officer. Federal authorities are investigating the incident as an act of terror.
The aftermath of the stabbing attack at the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud
Adan was starting his third year as a student at St. Cloud University. His father, Ahmed Adan, said he had “no suspicion” of his son being involved in any terrorist activity. Jama Alimad, a close member of the family and a community leader said Dahir Adan was more into sports than religion, adding that he was “the most assimilated kid in the neighborhood.”
About 12 hours later, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, writing on Twitter, “The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition.” This claim has yet to be confirmed. In an interview with the Star Tribune, Richard Thornton of the FBI said, “We don’t know if the suspect was in contact with or inspired by foreign terrorist organizations.” He also said the FBI was investigating Adan’s social media accounts and other contacts to figure out his motivation.
Gov. Mark Dayton said he was “appalled at the terrible attacks on innocent Minnesotans in St. Cloud last night. If true that they were motivated by religious bigotry, I condemn them even more strongly.… I ask everyone in the St. Cloud area and throughout Minnesota to rise above this atrocity and act to make religious and racial tolerance one of the ways in which Minnesotans again lead our country.”
Governor Mark Dayton calls for tolerance after the attack
Potential backlash against the Muslim community is a fear that many share. Ahmed Said, executive director of the Somali American Relations Council, said, “Let us not rush and jump into conclusions… We strongly stress that everybody calms down and focus on what unites us than what divides us in these difficult times.”