WASHINGTON D.C. — This past week, FBI Director James Comey testified before the House Judiciary Committee. According to the Associated Press, Comey was directly asked several questions regarding the terrorist attack in St. Cloud, MN. (https://bigstory.ap.org/article/e91dc1b0ee1748afb647a0efd04e84f1/fbi-head-extremism-apparent-influence-minnesota-attack)
On September 17, 2016, a man now identified as Dahir Ahmed Adan walked into the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud and stabbed 10 people before being fatally shot by an off-duty police officer. Several reports show that Adan asked at least one victim whether they were Muslim and mentioned Allah on one occasion.
A pro-ISIS news network claimed responsibility for the St. Cloud attack the next morning.
During his testimony, Comey confirmed that Adan was motivated by an Islamic terror group. Comey also noted that it was too soon to tell how and who influenced Adan to commit acts of terrorism as his electronic devices were still being processed.
Comey also reaffirmed a statement by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) that Minnesota is the top source for fighters for the Islamic State, but also made note to say that numbers from the United States overall are small, but Minnesota is susceptible to recruitment efforts due to the large Somali population.
Minnesota has one of the largest Somali populations in the country and officials have been trying to make inroads into the Somali Community to combat terrorism recruitment.
According to the DOJ website, Andrew Luger, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota is making terrorism one of his priorities. (https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/meet-us-attorney)
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Preya Samsundar
Preya Samsundar was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN. She graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities this Spring with a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology, with a minor in Strategic Communications. Preya has previously worked on several State Campaign Races.