Thursday, October 06, 2016
By Jon Collins, Peter Cox
St. Cloud police chief Blair Anderson plays video of an attack on a store clerk during last month's stabbing that left 10 people wounded at a St. Cloud mall. Jon Collins | MPR News
Dahir Ahmed Adan's actions leading up to his knife attacks on patrons at St. Cloud's Crossroads Center mall suggest he "may have been radicalized," an FBI investigator said Thursday.
Briefing reporters on the investigation, FBI Special Agent Rick Thornton and other authorities laid out a harrowing narrative of Adan's life in the months leading up to the Sept. 17 attacks as well as the attacks themselves, where Adan roamed the mall in a security guard uniform carrying two steak knives as video cameras captured the terror.
They also praised the heroism of Jason Falconer, the off-duty officer who shot and killed Adan after the attacker came at him several times, knives in hand. Stearns County authorities said Falconer's use of deadly force was justified and that he shouted numerous times he was a police officer as he ordered Adan to drop the weapons.
The stabbings left 10 people wounded at the mall; none had life threatening injuries.
Thornton on Thursday confirmed that Adan asked several people during the attacks if they were Muslim and that during one stabbing was heard to say,"Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for God is great.
Thornton described Adan, 20, as someone who had been more interested in basketball and video games than religion but then changed in the months before the attack.
He "went from being an excellent student with a high GPA to flunking out of college, almost overnight," Thornton said.
Thornton said the investigation is ongoing. The FBI is tracing Adan's social media and other digital activity. He also said Adan's iPhone is locked and the FBI is assessing its next steps in gaining access.
But the "totality" of what they know now about Adan suggests "he may have been radicalized, either with the influence of others or on his own," Thornton said.
The investigator also dismissed rumors that Adan had been somehow provoked at the mall and that triggered an impromptu rampage. Adan's attack, he said, was premeditated. The knives matched a cutlery set from his parents' house.
The state-run news agency for the ISIS terror group claimed Adan was a "soldier of the Islamic State" who had heeded the group's calls for attacks in countries that are part of a U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition.
Authorities on Thursday didn't detail the nature of Adan's likely radicalization or who specifically might have influenced him.
But using store video, they laid out a stunning and graphic story of the attacks in minute-by-minute fashion and of a suspect who kept attacking even while shot and bleeding.
On his way to the mall that night, they said, Adan stopped at a gas station where an employee said, "See you later" and Adan responded, "You won't be seeing me again."
He also hit a bicyclist who rolled up onto the car hood, his glasses wedged between the hood and windshield. Adan didn't stop.
Once at the mall, Adan began attacking people before entering.
In the mall, Adan stabbed a store clerk.
Thornton said Adan had asked Falconer if he was Muslim. Falconer, who'd been shopping at Bath & Body Works, said no but saw the knives and identified himself as an officer.
Adan initially turned away from Falconer and the officer followed repeating that he was law enforcement and ordering the man to drop the weapons.
"Upon following Adan into Macy's and repeatedly announcing his authority and commands to drop the knives, Adan ran toward Falconer with the knives raised two separate times, then continued to crawl toward him with a knife in his hand even after being shot during to separate prior charges at the officer," Thornton said.
Falconer fired 10 rounds, striking Adan six times, he added.
Store video showed Falconer shooting while backing away from Adan as the attacker continued to approach with his back turned.
Adan fell to the ground multiple times after being shot and still had the knife in hand. He tried to get up a final time using a store sign for balance.