8-10 Somali Teens Armed With Hammers Attack Bystanders at East Bank Rail Station in MN; Media Oddly Quiet

Alpha News MN has reported that a group of 8-10 Somali teens attacked travelers at the East Bank Light Rail Station in Minneapolis on Friday night. There were several injuries reported.  (Here is the Minneapolis Police Department dispatch audio.)

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This station stop is located next to the University of Minnesota campus. According to Alpha News MN:

The incident was apparently reported to 911 just before 10 p.m. on Friday according to the audio and other social media police scanner reports. A 9:48 p.m. Facebook post on 2nd Precinct Minneapolis Crime Watch page said that University of Minnesota (U of M) police were requesting assistance from Minneapolis police (MPD) and Metro Transit police for “a group of 8-10 males chasing people with hammers” and that some people were injured. A Facebook post a minute later on Minneapolis Scanner page said that the three police departments were responding to “multiple [911] calls” about “10-12 Somali teen males armed with hammers chasing people,” also with “several injuries reported.” Both Facebook pages regularly post summaries of police scanner audio.

A person who claimed on social media to have been at the station when the incident occurred said that the group of males had “hammers and bars,” and that they seemed to be “attacking anyone who looked like they had money or were white.” The witness, who said he isn’t white, said he didn’t want to “[take] on a bunch of dudes with blunt objects,” and that he “hurried an older white lady away” and they walked a few blocks to catch a bus.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this incident is how little media attention it received. The second most remarkable thing is that none of the article titles about this story indicate that these teenagers were Somali.

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This story was tagged by Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds late last night and it has received enormous reader interest. He has captioned the post “Minnesota Nice.”

Reynolds takes note of the teens’ nationality. He writes: “Males.” They were Somali teens, showing their gratitude to the nation that gave them refuge.

 

NOTE May 26, 2019: Alternative stories are coming out and the situation is unclear. I received a Snopes Fact Check alert which said, “According to University of Minnesota police, the incident did not involve a physical attack, did not cause any injuries, and was not racially motivated.”

I relied on the 911 police dispatch audio for this story. The dispatcher is relaying information from the University Police to the Minneapolis PD, and clearly says, “The U of M PD is asking for assistance. A group of 8-10 males at the East Bank Main light rail station chasing people around with hammers. They do have some people injured.”

For further details, please check more recent stories.

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