North Dakota: Muslim Opens Fire On Police Working Traffic Crash – Murders 1, Wound 2 Others

Mohamad Barakat opened fire on police officers who were merely working a traffic accident, killing one and wounding two others.

KFYR reports:

FARGO, N.D. (KFYR) – The Fargo Police Department provided an update Saturday on the incident that left one officer dead on Friday.

Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski said officers and the Fargo Fire Department responded to what was supposed to be a routine car crash on 25th Street South and 9th Avenue South in Fargo. That’s when the suspect, 37-year-old Mohamad Barakat, opened fire on them.

Three officers were struck by gunfire. Their names are Jake Wallin, Andrew Dotas, and Tyler Hawes. Officer Zach Robinson, who was not injured, was also on scene and shot and killed the suspect. One civilian was also hurt. Officers Dotas and Hawes are in critical but stable condition at Sanford Hospital in Fargo. Officer Wallin died from his injuries at the scene.

“This is an unconscionable act. It’s hard to fathom, it’s unbelievable that something like this would happen in our community. Many of us think this stuff can’t happen. It just happened,” said Zibolski.

Wallin was just 23 years old and was sworn in as a Fargo officer just three months ago. Chief Zibolski was unable to provide more details as the investigation has been turned over to the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI….

The AP adds:

FARGO, N.D. — A gunman opened fire on police and firefighters “for no known reason” as they responded to a traffic crash in North Dakota, killing one officer and wounding two others before another officer killed him, Fargo’s police chief said Saturday.

A 25-year-old woman was also injured in the shooting Friday afternoon, but authorities did not say who shot her. The gunman did not hit any firefighters, Chief David Zibolski said, but a fire truck was struck by gunfire.

Zibolski identified the shooter as Mohamad Barakat, 37, of Fargo, but provided few details about him or the shooting, citing officials’ desire to protect the investigation. He said he was confident authorities would eventually determine the motive.

“The first thing we always want to know in a situation like this is, ‘Why?’” he said. “Why would somebody do this? What happened?”

Authorities were investigating what Zibolski called a “routine traffic accident” on a busy Fargo street when Barakat opened fire. He did not appear to have been involved in the crash police were working, Zibolski said.

Among the drivers who witnessed what happened was Chenoa Peterson. She told The Associated Press on Saturday that the shooter appeared to have ambushed the officers. The gunman was at the rear of a car in a bank parking lot near the traffic crash when he fired on an officer not more than 20 feet (6 meters) away, she said.

“He was holding up the trunk of the car with his arm, and then I see the gun come up, and he set it on his shoulder and just pointed it directly at an officer in front of him,” Peterson said. “It was like 10 shots right away.”

The police weren’t looking in the direction of the gunman when he began shooting, she said….

Asked if the shooting was a planned ambush of police, Zibolski told reporters: “The investigation into that is still ongoing.” He said he believed police had previously had some sort of contact with Barakat “but not anything significant.”…

He said the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI were investigating….

Author Robert Spencer commented on the incident:

The police are baffled, and have no idea why Mohamad Barakat would do such a thing. There is no hint in either article below that anyone is considering the possibility that Barakat may have been acting in accord with this exhortation that the Islamic State issued in September 2014:

So O muwahhid, do not let this battle pass you by wherever you may be. You must strike the soldiers, patrons, and troops of the tawaghit. Strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents. Destroy their beds. Embitter their lives for them and busy them with themselves. If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be….If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him….

There may be some other reason why he did this. But the possibility that this was a jihad attack should be pursued. In today’s climate, when the FBI is busy persecuting Trump and others who dissent from the Left’s agenda and denies the reality of jihad activity altogether, will it be? Probably not.