Minneapolis
This past Saturday’s stabbing rampage by a Somali immigrant in St. Cloud, Minnesota, hits close to home; St. Cloud is about a 45-minute drive from the Twin Cities. Like the Twin Cities, St. Cloud is host to a large and ever-growing population of Somali immigrants and refugees.
The perpetrator of the rampage was one Dahir Adan. Fortunately, Adan was killed by Jason Falconer, an off-duty police officer, firearms expert, and NRA-certified firearms instructor. Adan subjected his 10 stabbing victims to untold horror in the course of his rampage, but Falconer took him down before his attack turned lethal. I should say almost untold horror; the Star Tribune‘s John Reinan captured the story of one couple assaulted by Adan before Falconer intervened.
Saturday’s attack not only hit close to home, it also rang a bell. Adan fits a certain profile. Having attended the trial of three “Minnesota men” (first- and second-generation Somalis) in Minneapolis this past May charged with seeking to join ISIS, I found Adan’s story eerily familiar. Adan was born in a Kenyan refugee camp and entered the United States at age two. Like the convicted defendants in the terrorism case, Adan was young (20 years old) and pursuing generous educational and employment opportunities in St. Cloud. Adan undertook his rampage dressed in a security guard uniform, similar to the one he wore while working part-time for Securitas in St. Cloud.*
All defendants in the terrorism case were young men much like Adan. Indeed, like Adan, defendant Guled Omar also worked part-time as a security guard. At trial the prosecutors introduced a photograph of Omar dressed in his uniform. As I recall (and on this point I am writing from recollection), Omar was smiling in the photograph. I think the photograph must have had the same effect on the jury as it did on me. It made me reflect on the wonderland in which we are living in Minnesota.
Omar was the only defendant to testify on his own behalf at trial. The family background Omar presented at trial proved instructive. Omar was born in a Kenyan refugee camp. He was roughly three years old when his family moved to the United States. His family emigrated to Kenya as a result of the Somali civil war. His father was shot three times in the conflict and lost his left leg as a result of the injuries. His father is disabled, but his disability gave him preferential immigration treatment by the United States.
Omar’s father has disappeared from the United States. He has left Omar’s mother with a rather large family. Omar has nine sisters and four brothers. They live in housing subsidized by a Section 8 voucher, although that must be the least of it. (See Kelly Riddell’s 2015 Washington Times article exploring the high-volume consumption of welfare resources by Minnesota’s Somalis.)
Minnesota natives are well known for their civility and have largely suppressed raising questions that naturally arise from the influx of Somali immigrants and refugees over the past 25 years—now reaching at least 100,000 by one estimate. Yet no one has asked Minnesotans for their consent to the influx; no one has asked whether the costs vastly outweigh the benefits; no one has asked whether the continuing influx poses an unreasonable risk.
On the contrary, we are instructed to stifle any such queries. In October last year—coincidentally, in St. Cloud—Governor Mark Dayton weirdly instructed “white, B-plus, Minnesota-born citizens” to suppress their qualms about immigrant resettlement in Minnesota. If they can’t, they should “find another state,” he added. Late last year Andrew Luger, the United States Attorney for Minnesota, took to the pages of the Star Tribune to inveigh against “the current wave of Islamophobia.” You don’t need to be a political savant to understand or sympathize with certain sentiments driving Donald Trump’s campaign.
The “Minnesota men” on trial in the terrorism case would have been happy to wage jihad inside the United States on behalf of ISIS. They talked of helping ISIS fighters from Syria travel to the U.S. by following their planned path in reverse, going from Turkey to Mexico to San Diego. Fortunately for us, however, prior to their departure they did not perceive the United States to be a battlefield for ISIS.
That’s where Adan differed from the young men in the terrorism case. Adan’s stabbing rampage obviously represents a version of jihad brought home to Minnesota. ISIS, indeed, has claimed credit for it. St. Cloud police chief William Blair Anderson has reported that Adan shouted “Allah” and asked at least one victim whether he was Muslim in the course of his rampage. Chief Anderson has nevertheless declined to characterize the stabbings as a terrorist attack, declaring that the motive isn’t known. “We will be diligent and get to the bottom of this,” he said. Richard Thornton, FBI special agent in charge of the Minneapolis division, announced at a press conference with Anderson on Sunday that the bureau is investigating the incident as “a potential terrorist attack.”
Ordinary citizens are left to wonder what is going on here—and draw their own conclusions.
*Correction: This piece originally stated incorrectly that Adan was wearing a Securitas uniform during the stabbing.
Scott W. Johnson is a Minneapolis attorney and contributor to the site Power Line.
