Sunday, September 18, 2016
By Stephanie Dickrell
People stand near the entrance on the north side of Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minn., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. Several people were taken to a hospital with injuries after a stabbing attack at the mall, which ended with the suspected attacker dead inside the mall. DAVE SCHWARZ – ASSOCIATED PRESS
Somali leaders and other members of the area Somali community were outside Crossroads Center early Sunday, observing the scene and seeing how they could help.
Haji Yusuf was getting calls and questions from the Somali community about Saturday night's attacks.
"I thought OK, I need to come out and find out for myself. I wanted to know. I really wanted to be a witness. I wanted to see what was going on ... and also how I could help, how I could support the victims. Just a word of advice of support to the victims. I also wanted to talk to law enforcement to see how we can support them at this time," he said.
"It's a sad night and it's going to be a bad morning. It's not going to be comfortable for a lot of people. But it's how we come out as a community, that's our strength. Our strength is in our unity and what we do for our community," Yusuf said.
Another Somali leader, Abdul Kulane, was also at the mall. He heard that the suspect appeared to be Somali.
“So we came here to show solidarity with the victims,” Kulane said. “It’s really, really terrible. It’s a tragedy. Our sympathy goes to the victims.”
“We’re awaiting the police report to see the full picture of the incident here,” Kulane said. Whatever the details are, Kulane said, it doesn’t change the fact that many of the victims had their life changed by the incident.
“Now I can’t do anything but sympathize and offer our prayers to the victims of this incident,” he said.
Central Minnesota community has experienced a lot of tension around the Somali population in recent years.
Kulane said that the incident is not good for St. Cloud or the Somali community.
“We worry about many things. We worry about what repercussions it may have. We worry about what’s going to happen after this. We worry about the health of these victims. So it’s not easy. It’s not an easy incident for St. Cloud,” Kulane said.
“We want to show that we are part of this community," said Farhan Mohamud, outreach coordinator with St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization (SASSO). "We want to show that we are feeling the pain of the victims. And that we are part and parcel of this community."
“It’s really important for us to work with the police and the mayor and the authorities here to coordinate with them,” Mohamud said.
“The alleged perpetrator appears to be Somali, but we’re not sure. So we have to let police do their work and proceed cautiously. And once we obtain sufficient information, we want to work closely with the police departments and any other law enforcement that is involved in the situation," he said.
“I think we are part of the community of St. Cloud. … We want to work with the police department and we wanted to whatever we can to help, to assist with the citizens of St. Cloud. I think the police will do a good job,” said Tohow Siyad, who owns Mogadishu Meat & Grocery and is on the board of the Central Minnesota Community Foundation.
Early on, Yusuf said he saw a couple victims coming out of the mall.
"I asked them if they knew who did it. They gave me a brief description of who did it. I spoke to one guy who said he almost became a victim," Yusuf said. The possible victim was Somali.
"It's a sad day for our community. But what's more important right now is for us to come together, to rally together," Yusuf said. "This is a test for all of us. We have people that are just evil that do evil things in our community."
"They don't represent anyone. They don't represent me or anyone that I know or any community that I know," Yusuf said.
Natalie Ringsmuth agreed.
"They don't represent a religion, they don't represent the community," Ringsmuth said.
She is executive director of UniteCloud. She was at the scene and updating people live as she could.
"We're asking them to spread empathy," Ringsmuth said.
"It's about the victims. ...What can we do for the victims how can we support the victims, how we can be there emotionally," Yusuf said. "That's more important than anything. That's where we are."
Ringsmuth said people are asking what they can do, how they can help. She said Unite Cloud is trying to find some actionable steps for them to take.
"Unite Cloud is supposed to be a bridge in the community ... This is why we're here," Ringsmuth said.
"Something like this ... something that divides our community was going to happen, from whatever side it was going to happen on," Ringsmuth said.
"We wanted to be there when that happened, already laying the groundwork of bridge-building and peace so that people know who this community it," Ringsmuth said. "And this community isn't one person who decided to try to take lives today. This community is a place where everybody comes together with a bridge of peace. And that's what Unite Cloud is all about."
Somali leaders expressed concern about how the incident would affect St. Cloud
Mohamud said he hopes the media won't sensationalize the incident. He also praised how St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson handled the incident.
“I think the chief did a good job of not trying to sensationalize it and not put up anything that is not true,” Mohamud said.
"The (police) chief also works with the community and understands the community,” Siyad said.
Abdi Daisane was at the scene early Sunday. The St. Cloud resident is running for a St. Cloud City Council seat. He said he was driving back from the Twin Cities when he heard about the incident. He had been celebrating: He’s getting married Sunday.
“A friend of mine called me … and said, stay inside. Things are not looking good,” Daisane said. “I was trying to stay up to date.”
He's already feeling the fear of the Somali community.
“The fear, it’s not only me. There were people calling me all night on my phone and saying I hope it’s not a Muslim or Somali person. Because all the fear of the retaliation that might happen after, what communities might do. It’s a lot of emotions involved. Maybe someone very emotional will do something back to the community that haven’t done anything wrong to them. So, there’s a fear. And I believe that it exists within the community,” Daisane said. “If we look in the history, something like this happens, it has retaliations. My fear is that someone might find a justification to do something bad to people because of what happened tonight.”
Daisane said it's a sign that St. Cloud isn't any different than any other community and is vulnerable to violence.
“I think this is like a call, it’s a call that we’re not any safer than anywhere else. Things might happen. Bad things might happen. What if that person had a gun, maybe he could have killed more people. ... The St. Cloud community is not safer than Minneapolis, or New York City, which had incidents today. We’re not safer than anyone else. It’s just that we were lucky enough tonight that he was armed with a knife instead of a gun.”