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8 injured in Minnesota mall stabbings
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A MAN in a private security uniform stabbed eight people at a Minnesota shopping mall, reportedly mentioning Allah and asking at least one victim if they were Muslim before an off-duty police officer shot and killed him, United States authorities said.
All eight victims were treated at a hospital for non-life threatening wounds, and all but one was later released, St Cloud police Chief Blair Anderson told a news conference. The eighth was admitted, but no other details about his condition were released.
The attack happened at around 8pm on Saturday at the Crossroads Center in St Cloud, a city of about 65,000 people 95 kilometers northwest of Minneapolis.
A man in a security uniform and armed with a knife stabbed people across several locations in the mall, the chief said. He added that an off-duty police officer from another jurisdiction shot and killed the suspect, though he didn’t say where that officer serves.
Anderson said the man reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if they were Muslim before attacking them. But he declined to call it an act of terrorism, saying the motive was still unknown. “We will be diligent and get to the bottom of this,” Anderson said. “Starting tomorrow, things won’t be the same here.”
Anderson did not identify the attacker, but he said police had had three previous encounters with him, mostly for minor traffic violations. He said authorities have no reason to believe anyone else was involved in the attack, and that the FBI had offered to help with the investigation.
“The entire mall is an active crime scene,” he said.
The attack began shortly after an explosion in a crowded New York City neighborhood injured 29 people. A suspicious device was found a few blocks away and safely removed. Hours before that, a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, shortly before thousands of runners were due to participate in a charity 5K race. There was no indication that any of the incidents were linked.
The St Cloud mall remained on lockdown following the attack, but authorities expected those remaining inside to be released early yesterday. Photos and video of the mall taken hours after the incident showed groups of shoppers waiting to be released, including some huddled together near a food court entrance.
Harley and Tama Exsted of Isle, Minnesota, who were in St Cloud to watch their son play in a college golf tournament, were in the mall when the incident occurred.
“All of a sudden I heard pop, pop, pop,” Harley Exsted told the St Cloud Times. “I thought someone tipped over a shelf. All of a sudden these people started running. I just saw everybody running our way.”
There also were reports of some shots fired during the attack.
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