At 8:00 pm on September 17, ten people were attacked and stabbed by 20-year-old Dahir Adan, in the St. Cloud Crossroads Center Mall. The attacker was killed by an off-duty police officer who happened to be on the scene. The Former Albany Police Chief Jason Falconer was shopping at the popular mall when Adan attacked. Falconer fired his gun three times, killing the attacker. The St. Cloud Police Department had previously made contact with the suspect through multiple traffic stops, but was under no suspicion.

The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for prompting the attack. Communicating through AMAQ news agency, supposed ISIS affiliates claimed, “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.” There is no real evidence yet to connect the attacker to the terrorist group. The investigation has been turned over to the FBI for investigation. Richard Thornton, an FBI special agent in charge of the case says, “The FBI is investigating the stabbing as a potential act of terrorism.”

Friends and family of Adan report that he was a very determined and successful 4.0 student, currently attending his third year at St. Cloud State University. A religious leader in the area observed that he hadn’t frequented his mosque. He was reportedly described as not very religious and according to a neighbor, the “most assimilated in the neighborhood.” These reports contradict the assumption of terrorist motives.

Dahir Adan was dressed in his job’s required security uniform. Adan reportedly asked at least one victim if they were Muslim before eventually attacking them. Adan also mentioned Allah ­during the incident. Because of these indicators of radical religious motives, the local Somali community is bracing itself for anti-Islamic backlash and calling for a message of unity and acceptance. St. Cloud has a Somali population of between 950 and 1,900. The attacker was both Somali and Muslim, but reportedly only semi-religious. Somali leaders in Minnesota were clear in saying that this act was purely individualistic and harmed the Somali community as much as it harmed everyone else involved.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton traveled to St. Cloud saying 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.” Eight of the ten victims were quickly admitted to St. Cloud Hospital but had been discharged within twenty-four hours of the stabbing, leaving one victim going to another local hospital. One victim was originally classified as in critical condition, but all ten survived the attack. The victims range in age from 15 to 53, eight of whom are men. The attack comes in a violent week surrounding an explosion in New York injuring 29, and in New Jersey with no injuries. These attacks continue to heighten the religious and racial tension in America surrounding terrorism since 9/11.