{UAH} Man who wounded eight in knife attack at Minnesota mall made references to Allah:

.S. | Sun Sep 18, 2016 | 4:14am EDT
Man who wounded eight in knife attack at Minnesota mall made
references to Allah: policeBy Alex Dobuzinskis
A man wearing a private security uniform wounded eight people in a
knife attack on Saturday at a mall in central Minnesota before he was
shot dead by an off-duty police officer, authorities said.

The man made references to Allah and asked at least one person if they
were Muslim before he assaulted them at the Crossroads Center mall in
St. Cloud, the city's Police Chief William Blair Anderson told
reporters.

"Whether that was a terrorist attack or not, I'm not willing to say
that right now because we just don't know," Anderson said at a news
conference.

"We'll figure out what this is and when we do we will be transparent
about it," he added. He gave no details of the identities of the
victims.

The knife attack in St. Cloud, a community about 60 miles (97 km)
northwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul, comes at a time of heightened
concern in the United States about the threat of violence in public
places.

An explosion rocked New York City's bustling Chelsea district on
Saturday, injuring at least 29 people in what authorities described as
a deliberate, criminal act. But they said investigators had turned up
no evidence of a "terror connection."

In St. Cloud, the attacker entered the mall in the evening as it was
busy with shoppers, Anderson said.

He attacked his victims at several sites in the shopping center, which
will remained closed on Sunday as police investigate, the police chief
said.

The eight wounded were transported to St. Cloud Hospital but none were
believed to have life-threatening injuries, said Chris Nelson, a
communications specialist for the medical facility.

One victim was expected to remain there, but the other seven patients
had already been released or were expected to be let go shortly,
officials said.

Police officials said they were still interviewing witnesses hours
after the attack.

The off-duty police officer who shot the suspect was from a
jurisdiction outside of St. Cloud, Anderson said. He would not say
which agency employs the officer.


(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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