Act of violence hits too close to home

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n Saturday, Sept. 17 a man dressed as a security officer injured several people at the local mall in Saint Cloud, Minnesota.

The stabbings happened in several places throughout the mall, including in stores and in common areas.

The chief of police identified the man as Dahir Adan, whom had three previous encounters with police.

The Chief of Police, Blair Anderson, described the man as a person who was armed with a knife and allegedly made references to Allah during the attack.

In addition he asked at least one person whether they were Muslim.

The chief of police, identified the man as Dahir Adan, whom had three previous encounters with the police.

But Anderson pointedly declined to call the attacks an act of terrorism, saying the motive isn’t yet known.

According to CNN, the FBI is indeed calling this an act of terrorism.  On Sunday, ISIS had released a statement calling Adan a soldier of the Islamic state.

An off-duty officer, Jason Falconer confronted the man and shot him. He has been deemed a hero ever since.

United States senator Amy Klobuchar said, “While we will learn more about the facts surrounding this horrific attack today, one thing we know for certain this morning: Due to the courageous actions of an off-duty area police officer, the good work of first responders, and the reaction of those present at the mall, lives were saved.”

This incident has disrupted the Muslim-American community that is in Saint Cloud.

Jaylani Hussein, who is the Minnesota Director for Council on American-Islamic Relations and St. Cloud Somali-American Leaders were upset about the attack and stated that they wished for peace in the community.

They spoke at a press conference, which was held on Sunday afternoon that included non-Muslims from St. Cloud as well.

This incident worries the community director for #UNITECloud, a group that helps to lower tension between the Christians and Muslims in the Saint Cloud area.

As of Sunday, three of the stabbing victims remained hospitalized.

Harley Exsted and his wife were just two of the many witnesses of the crime.

After a gunshot, they saw crowds of people running toward the exit of the mall, as they joined the crowd they continued to hear four more gunshots.

Another witness named Ran Schliep had just gone inside the mall with his girlfriend when they saw a crying girl running outside the mall.

She was yelling, “Call 911! Call 911!” As Schliep continued to walk into the mall Adan came towards him. “He looked me dead in the eyes. He had a pretty emotional face, just a blank stare,” he said during an interview with the Washington Post.

After eye contact was made, Adan stabbed Schliep in the head, causing him to fall.

He got back up and ran into a Forever 21 to find cover, where an employee tied clothing around his head to stop his head from bleeding.

At this point even more chaos ensued.

I first heard of this attack from my roommate, who lives close to Saint Cloud.

All of these show us how important it is that we cherish life; we never know when it could be our last day.

I was confused as to why she was so upset until she told me what had happened.

I didn’t think that something like this would happen in a Minnesota city.

Over the weekend there were numerous tragedies throughout the US.

All of these show us how important it is that we cherish life; we never know when it could be our last day.

I feel bad for the families of those who were injured and for anyone affected from any terrorist attack.

I hope for people of all religions to come into harmony, and until that day comes I will do my best to bring people together no matter their religion or culture.