You may recall the case of Dahir Adan, the Somali immigrant who went on a stabbing rampage in September 2016 at the Crossroads Center shopping mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Adan’s rampage represented a case of sudden jihad syndrome. Adan asked victims whether they were Muslim before stabbing them and shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he went along his merry way dressed in a security guard uniform. Adan attacked ten in all before he was killed by Jason Falconer, an off-duty police officer, firearms expert, and NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Mall cameras captured both the terror of Adan’s rampage and Falconer’s bravery as he ran after Adan (condensed in the ABC News segment below). Even if you have seen it before, it is worth a few moments to recall what went down in St. Cloud.
I paused over the the incident for the Weekly Standard in “A ‘Minnesota man’ strikes in St. Cloud” and for City Journal in “Alice in Terrorland.”
Falconer has avoided the limelight since the incident. He reluctantly emerged on Thursday, however, to accept the Congressional Medal of Bravery at a ceremony in St. Cloud. Star Tribune reporter John Reinan observed the visible sign of Falconer’s embarrassment by the praise he received at the ceremony (“a red flush crept up his neck and into his cheeks”).
What a guy. He seems in every respect to be old-fashioned in his modesty, his virtue, and his bravery.
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