Officers, Firefighters Who Responded To Crossroads Mall Stabbing Honored In St. Cloud
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Some police officers and firefighters, who responded to a knife attack in a St. Cloud mall in September, received recognition Wednesday night.
Investigators say Dahir Adan referred to Allah and asked people if they were Muslim, before he stabbed them at the Crossroads Mall. An off-duty officer eventually shot and killed him.
Police say Adan stabbed 10 people before he was shot. All of them survived. The FBI investigated the acts as terrorism.
"When I responded to that call, all my training kicked in. I knew we had to get our job done," Officer Preston Voigt said.
Voigt and fellow Waite Park officer Anthony Reznicek had trained for calls like this, but it was training they hoped they would never have to use.
"We don't know if, when, we just have to be ready. I think that showed in this incident in St. Cloud," Reznicek said.
The officers and other first responders showed up at Crossroads Mall, not knowing exactly what was happening inside. While St. Cloud police had the most officers on-site, they were far from alone.
One hundred and fifty-nine people responded that night from 25 different agencies. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis says it proves that jurisdictions mean nothing during emergencies.
"It's on behalf of the city of St. Cloud that we are here tonight to honor all of you," Kleis said at Waite Park's city council meeting.
The officers and firefighters who helped that night were honored at the beginning of the meeting. Jason Falconer, the off-duty Avon police officer who shot the attacker wasn't there. But he was recognized.
"Officer Falconer was in the right place at the wrong time and he saved a lot of lives that day," Officer Voigt said.
"I don't see what I did as being heroic. It's the job we do. We do it for our partners, ourselves, our families and our communities," Officer Reznicek said.
Both Waite Park and St. Cloud Police Departments say they have received a lot of good feedback from people in both cities about how they handled the attack that night.
