A man dressed as a private security officer stabbed eight people at a Minnesota mall Saturday night—allegedly on behalf of ISIS—before he was killed by police.
According to CNN, seven of those stabbed have already been treated and released from area hospitals. One remains hospitalized, though none of the injuries were deemed life-threatening.
The assailant, identified as Dahir Adan, had been in trouble with police in the past, though his violations were mostly limited to minor traffic infractions. Multiple outlets report that the attack began around 8 p.m. and spread over various parts of St. Cloud’s Crossroads Center, including in stores and common areas.
The St. Cloud Times reports that Adan made repeated references to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim as he carried out the attacks, before he was shot dead in the mall’s Macy’s by an off-duty police officer. The paper adds that the last time his family saw him was around an hour and a half prior to the stabbings, when he said he was going to the mall to buy an iPhone 7:
As far as the family and community know, the suspect did not have any history of violence. He was known as a smart, accomplished student at Apollo High School. He was a junior at St. Cloud State University, Abdul Kulane said. Adan was also working part time as a private security officer, they said.
Though St. Cloud police have not identified the incident as an act of terrorism, the Amaq News Agency, which serves as ISIS’s press arm, posted a notice saying that “executor of the stabbing attacks in #Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State.”
“It has hit home for us,” said Chief William Blair Anderson during a press conference at the scene. “But I want everybody in St. Cloud to know that we will be diligent and we will get to the bottom of this. It’s an awful day, honestly.”