St. Paul, MN – Reactions are flooding in after after a man stabbed nine people at a St. Cloud mall before being shot and killed by an off-duty officer.
CNN reports the man in question has been identified as 22-year-old Dahir A. Adan. As Alpha News previously reported, the terrorist organization known as ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the suspect an ISIS soldier.
Minnesota’s political leaders had mixed responses after the attack. On Sunday, Governor Dayton called for tolerance, saying in a statement, “I am deeply grateful to the heroic law enforcement officer, whose swift response prevented an even worse attack. And I extend my very best wishes to the victims for their swift and complete recoveries. 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.”
Last year Dayton made headlines when speaking to the St. Cloud community when he said, “This is a time for everybody who is a Minnesotan, a real Minnesotan to take a stand and say, ‘not in our state.’ If you are that intolerant, that much of a racist and a bigot, then find another state, they really should go somewhere else.” said Dayton.
US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D – MN) posted to Facebook Sunday, saying, “Over the next few days we will learn the facts. But today there is one thing we all share: We are thankful for the bravery of the off-duty officer and first responders who went beyond the call of duty to save lives.” Klobuchar’s colleague, fellow US Senator Al Franken (D – MN) released a similar statement, saying, “I will be working closely with local and federal officials to get to the bottom of this, and to make sure that Minnesotans are safe.”
Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Keith Downey also released a statement Sunday, saying Democrats, “must get serious about protecting Minnesotans from the ISIS threat.”
“Mark Dayton, Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken, Tim Walz, Rick Nolan, Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, Collin Peterson, Angie Craig and Terri Bonoff need to come together for our state and demand that Barack Obama halt and Hillary Clinton oppose this influx of potential ISIS terrorists until an airtight vetting process can be proven,” said Downey, urging the Democratic politicians to demand a ”complete and public review by the Obama administration to assure Minnesotans that they have not already allowed ISIS terrorists to settle here.”
US Representative Keith Ellison (D – MN05), the first Muslim elected to Congress, simply tweeted, “Wishing the victims in St. Cloud a speedy recovery. Thank you to the brave off-duty officer who saved lives.”
The Star Tribune reports that in a late night press conference Sunday, St. Cloud Police Chief William Anderson said the attacker reportedly asked at least one victim whether they were Muslim before assaulting them, and referred to Allah during the attacks.
St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said three of the nine victims were still hospitalized, including one person who remains in life-threatening condition.
