PRESS BRIEFING: Authorities Disclose Fargo Shooter Mohamad Barakat’s History… What’s Next for the Street Fair?

FARGO, ND (trfnews.i234.me) Officials held a news conference on this Friday revealing more information of the background of the Fargo shooter, Mohamad Barakat. He was from Syria and came to the United States in 2012 gaining U.S. citizenship in 2019. Officials say he was a loner motivated by a desire to kill. Officials say he did numerous internet searches on mass killings and his last search the night before the shootings was about the thousands of people to be attending the Fargo Street Fair.
foreign everyone uh my name is attorney general I see some unfamiliar faces so I’ll introduce myself my name is attorney general Drew Wrigley others will be introduced as we go throughout here today but I do want to note Chief Deputy uh attorney general for North Dakota Claire Ness uh also up here with us chief agent Casey Miller from the BCI and we’ve got a number of BCI agents here on the back wall and I want to thank them publicly for the work across the last week in conjunction with so many others in law enforcement and there’s going to be a lot of that sort of talk in the days ahead every bit of it very Justified we should begin this morning where we should always begin uh in prayerful thanks even in a time like this prayerful thanks for with humble Grace and thanks for the peacekeepers many of whom are here today all of whom should know that they are remembered here today we are this morning reconvening uh I guess uh the communication this week in the wake of last week’s horrible Friday afternoon events uh we were in here this week on Wednesday to talk about the heroic efforts the life-saving efforts of police officer Zach Robinson in the face of a Savage attack we concluded and announced that his actions were reasonable his actions were Justified his actions were an always lawful to which we would add courageous to which we would have selfless we want to caution you as we get started here today that this remains an active investigation what we’re doing today is a little out of the ordinary in that we’re talking about this matter uh before the conclusion of that investigation but for a variety of reasons it’s important that we do so and I want to thank all the law enforcement leaders who are up here today not all of whom will talk today but we’re all available for your questions please keep in mind also that this is the best information that we have as of today I know things today that a couple days ago looked a little murkier we’re going to answer the questions that we can answer we’re going to answer questions that we can responsibly answer so that’ll begin there’s going to be some photos up on the screen from time to time I can tell you there will be nothing that will be um uh ghoulish or along those lines but we want to convey the best information that we can uh these times remain just take them for their close the best approximations that we have sometimes because things are time stamped uh what have you but it’s the best information that we have it’s almost hard to believe that my first line looking down here that such events can transpire in the wake of a fender bender a fender bender in Fargo North Dakota 2 42 p.m there’s a two vehicle fender bender on 25th Street South the vehicles were proceeding South they were just north of 9th Avenue Carly coswick who had just recently moved here to Fargo was in one of those vehicles she was alone in the vehicle she was driving the other vehicle had multiple occupants Fargo fire was the first on the scene in response to the call that went out they arrived on the scene at 2 48 pm a minute later Fargo police response response arrived at 2 49 p.m that was officers androdotus and Tyler Hawes minutes later and when I’m referencing these matters we have an array of videotape from the public from private sources and from law enforcement I’ll cobble those together it was minutes later that Muhammad Barakat first appeared in the video he was driving Northbound on 25th he had not yet gotten to the gotten to the ninth uh Avenue Crossroad when he came into the big top Bingo video feed so he saw the crash the crash would have been off to his left in just a little a little bit north he took that left turn on to 9th Avenue and then immediately took a right turn into the parking lot that was just adjacent the 25th and where the crash was so he pulled immediately into that parking lot at this point only officers cause and notice are at the scene along with fire fire the fire crew that got there first so I only have the two officers he pulls in and he’s sitting in his vehicle facing 25th the distance between him and the crash at that point would be about here to the second row where I’m standing to the second row and he sat there for a while observing the scene the lights are flashing as you can imagine we’ve all seen how many crash scenes minutes later he pulls out of that spot and he drives back onto Ninth Street I’m sorry yeah on the 9th Street but then kind of twist a little bit goes over to Big Top Bingo and parks in the parking lot again he spends a short time there still in full View still in full view of the crash officers still on scene after a couple of minutes he drives out of the north side of that parking lot takes a right turn and gets stopped at the light he’s there for several minutes at that point the crash is off to his left 20 30 feet away able to observe the officers at the scene the Fargo fire at the scene Barakat continues across 25th and into the trailer park on the other side takes the first I guess you’d say the first block in he takes a left turn and heads North and goes out of view of the video feed from Big Top bingo he’s out of you for several minutes out of you for several minutes and then you see him emerge again now in the alley that is to the West of the parking lot where he parked in the first instance I’m going to put up I’m going to put up a picture if I can first put up image number one this is Muhammad Barakat you’ll forgive the lack of resolution it’s from a video it’s the best we could do at this time I’m working on other photos and we’ll have a request at the end of our proceedings today could you please go to uh item number two I’m just going to get you oriented on this bear with me but I think it it helps to have a picture in your mind this is the overhead shot this is not going to work on there that works in my hand doesn’t work on there okay well I’ll point at it the you see where the police cars are down here that’s where the crash this is later on everything’s cleared this is not during this incident but this is where the crash took place out on 25th that’s the parking lot just just on the top of that is the parking lot where Barakat was parked actually that’s still his vehicle the furthest one to the right is still his vehicle this is sometime after then there’s that building that’s a private uh private uh businesses there Big Top Bingo is off to the left the trailer park that I mentioned would be in the foreground on this side so you’ve got South North to the right West and East okay so when I mentioned he’s in now he’s in the alley after re-emerging getting back on the video he’s in the alley right behind that building and we see him come back into frame and he comes proceeds proceeds South on that alley goes on goes around the side of that building and again Parks right there where he’s in full view of the um of the uh the crash scene and the officers uh activity at 303 now remember those other times at 303 P.M officers Robinson and Jake Wallin show up at the scene they are now the third and fourth officers to respond to the scene and they show up while the defendant who’s now been casing this out for all those minutes driving out and coming at it from different angles now he’s sitting there watching waiting for additional law enforcement and they came now you got a total of four a Fargo police officers out there as of 303 P.M and almost that exact time one of the vehicles and again bear with me I’m not going through this because we’re all working on traffic and reconstruction here these will all be relevant points at some point right there almost immediately after those two officers arrived one of the crash Vehicles drives up they’re gonna you’re gonna start clearing the road it drives forward whatever 20 30 feet to ninth takes a right goes around and comes right into the parking lot and it is parked on our image here to the left of bar it’s the middle of the three cars there forget about the one on the left far left it’s the middle of three cars there that’s that’s the vehicle that was run into that was the furthest south vehicle that was run into and had multiple occupants in it they parked their vehicle right there next to Barakat who’s still in his vehicle in the driver’s seat looking out incidentally he has spray painted all the windows in the back of his vehicle nobody can see into it from a distance it would look tinted standing next to it you’d realize there’s something else going on here I can’t see in there at all but nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary and they wouldn’t have any cause to police are handling their site um and the defendants just laying in weight inside that vehicle the individuals in the crash vehicle they get out now they want to look at the damage to their vehicle get out they’ve got their cell phones out they’re taking pictures I suppose making calls and talking behind there waiting for police to come over and talk to them Carly is on the sidewalk she’s on the sidewalk almost directly in front of where the defendant’s vehicle is facing she’s down on the sidewalk her vehicle remains out in the street that’s important in a moment too at this point and I’ll get in a minute we’re not talking about much time having gone by here a lot of activity but not a lot of time has gone by at this point three Fargo police officers make their way up from the street up into that lot and start walking toward the crash vehicle to talk with those individuals but remember that that will then require they’ll have to walk past varicot’s vehicle and he’s sitting in there the windows are open the back is you can’t see into the back he’s sitting there and when they first start walking I’m again estimating 30 40 feet away they can’t see into there and see that lying next to him on the seat is the double magazine 223 long rifle that’s police officer Jake Wallin police officer Andrew dottis I want to sorry and police officer Tyler Hawes officer Robinson remains in the street he remained in the street because the fire truck was going to be be pulled away and going to be leaving and his concern was there would be too much space that was open there and he was worried that someone would come along go into the turn lane and maybe we’d have another accident so he walked around he was on the other side of Carly’s car just waiting for what was going to come next and he’s gonna go back and move his police vehicle up but as officers walin donuts and Hawes started to make their way to talk to those other people they’re getting closer and closer to barakats vehicle with the open window we’re not releasing today the body cam videos we will be in the fullness of time when the time is appropriate they approach best that’s been able to give you 10 15 feet away barcot takes out his takes out his long rifle it’s scoped it’s got a double mag his loady’s got 60 rounds available to him and what that is is you they’re side by side you used one up and all you have to do is push the other one over and you’ve got the access to the other 30. that becomes a relevant point also beside the obvious he opens fire Bearcat opens fire on the officers and as officer Robinson described to my BCI agent when telling about you know giving his his account what had happened and it’s verified by listening to the uh the audio it is he believed it to me and reasonably so automatic fire it is rapid that’s that all made possible all made possible because of what is known as a binary trigger [Music] okay thank you that’s right all possible because what’s known as a binary trigger aftermarket legal purposeless pull around like let go around pull around let go around everything you hit you’ll hit twice because you’ve got the binary trigger that’s relevant for obvious okay it appears that Fargo police officer Jake Wallin is the first struck but it happened so rapidly there’s no way to really know which which amendment and I don’t know that it matters but he was about a foot and a half a seven and a half ahead of the other two officers but in Rapid succession uh dodus and Haws are hit all they’re hit none of the officers even has so much as an opportunity to turn to crouch to grab for their their service weapon nothing it’s that rapid it takes it they drop drop each of the officers terms later stumbled willed their way a little ways in the wake of the shooting now there’s no there’s no pause in anything that I’m describing to you I’m just trying the best thing rapidly run around the other side of the vehicle and do the only thing they can do they’re crouching for their lives they’re crouching for their lives over behind the vehicle that they’ve just been in this accident with officer Robinson who’s out on the other side of that vehicle God bless and I’ll tell you one of the things he asks our investigator later did I remember to call it in uh yeah calm calling it in shots fired shots fired knowing he’s the last officer he didn’t call that in there’s no knowing what happens next I mean if he doesn’t get that call in before something happens to him is what I’m saying calls it in calls it in stands up and immediately engages having no idea especially in light of all the rapid fire he has no idea how many how many weapons he’s facing no idea no idea about one and a half times I would say between myself and Mike mcfeely about one and a half times that distance back here in the purple shirt he’s engaging a guy with a long rifle scoped sitting in his car still sitting in the car and he the officer is away from his vehicle he’s got his he’s got a service weapon and he engages Barakat is not hit in that barrage from the officer and he wouldn’t be there’s not much space there he’s inside of his vehicle Barakat jumps out of the vehicle opens the door and runs around the back of his vehicle positions himself on the passenger side and has a direct line at the officer who’s that distance I just described we think it’s about 75 feet Barakat with his scoped weapons got a direct line officer Robinson is obstructed by by the crash vehicle maybe to his waist and he’s firing Direct on at some point again this is all instantaneous Carly does what any of us would do she tries to take cover she was on the sidewalk remember she wants to take she runs to try to get behind a tree it ain’t much of a treat but it’s something she makes it a couple of steps the defendant sees her moving so intent is he with his murderous resolved he sees her moving he goes off of the officer and comes over and shoots her again striking his victim with multiple rounds she’s down immediately severely injured in that instant when he turned mildly profile officer Robinson and he says when he’s talking to the BCI agents days later he tells them you know he knew he’d popped off several rounds when Barakat was in the car now he’s got him around he knows he’s now he’s he’s standing up he sees what’s happened he knows he’s got officers down he knows he’s got the civilian down he knows he’s got other civilians just off the side and he tells himself just squeeze careful careful squeeze and he does he hits the long rifle and incapacitates it I don’t think he’ll tell you he was aimed for the long run he’s aiming for Center Mass but he hits the long rifle it’s incapacitated and he also hits Barakat America’s far from done he takes the round and and he goes down now Robinson comes from around the vehicle and is closing a great Peril to himself again remember he has no way to know if there are other gunmen and this one’s still moving 16 times between there and in the end of this whole 16 times he directs the defendant to raise his hands and the defendant does at one point with a nine millimeter in his hand that he’s trying desperately he’s trying desperately to charge uh charge get her get around in the chamber drop the gun drop the gun he doesn’t drop the gun Officer again fires Barakat continues to move as the officer moves closer this is where he calls in I have three shots fired I have three officers down I have three officers down send everybody I don’t know if there’s a more lonely human being on this planet than officer Zach Robinson closing in on that scene he’s got three officers down he’s got a civilian who’s been shot he’s got a guy he’s closing in on that he’s hoping like hell is the only shooter out here officer Robinson continues up through the grass toward barakat’s vehicle he goes to the driver’s side to keep the vehicle between himself and Barakat still no other officer has been able to respond this has happened so rapidly as they go along I should have mentioned and I didn’t it was two minutes two minutes from when officers will lean and Robinson arrived at the scene a little under two minutes before gunfire erupted all that was taking place in that for two minutes now he’s walking Robinson is walking around behind the vehicle coming around to the passenger side back there again he’s got the civilians hiding behind the car just off to off to the would be the South there and one last time one final time showing the restraint that I can’t imagine God giving anyone under these circumstances he says again drop your gun he comes out from behind the vehicle the defendant still has the gun in his hand he’s lying there and the force used by the officer neutralizes Muhammad Barakat when you’re watching this from the moment that the shooting starts especially in hindsight when you know the Weaponry the barcot had in that vehicle ended in his hands he had two handguns on him including the nine millimeter I just referenced and he had the long rifle it’s difficult to overstate how dramatically especially at that distance how dramatically outgunned police officers at Robinson once and your hands rely on my recitation for now but you’ll see the you’ll see that body cam video in time and I know we’ll all agree Batman was never outmanned [Music] um it was 306 and 34 seconds when officer Robinson finally neutralized the defendant who remained alive but in significant distress Robinson remaining composed another officer officer Clower has now at the scene again these moments have passed he must have been close by he’s not now on the scene he came right to uh Robinson’s side um Robinson directs that he cuff him what you got to do because he’s still still moving they cuff him and officer Robinson immediately makes his way to his Fallen brother officers into the area where they are being treated along with Carly and eventually they’re all being treated by Fargo fire Fargo police are on the scene and each of them surrounded by a by a blue wall man people around them literally encourage them them to live stay with us stay with us Andrew saying his name squeezing his hand massaging his shoulders doing everything they can Robinson’s right there too all the fire and rescue people all the Fargo police responding to this scene all the law enforcement not intentionally leaving anyone else out you’ll understand we’re going to have these reports yet I’ve got all the information we’ve been in all these meetings but not intentionally leaving anyone out it would be horrific enough If This Were the end if that was all we knew and that was the end of these horrible events in the wake of the fender bender on 25th Street South officer Robinson and the others it would be heroic enough if we only knew that he had so courageously stood our enemy down but as the investigation in the ensuing week has made clear The Thin Blue Line was severely severely tested Fargo police officer Zach Robinson was indeed The Last Man Standing in that blue line at that moment when he was standing between was not just the horrible events that were unfolding there but between the horrible events that Muhammad Barakat had planned had envisioned planned and intended and armed himself for Beyond fully that day in the wake of these events law enforcement was moving rapidly and I thank all of our law enforcement Partners we had tremendous help from the North Dakota Highway Patrol the Sheriff’s Office the other police departments the FBI federal law enforcement my friend Matt Schneider our our U.S attorney is here today and he’s going to be talking a little bit too search warrants quickly ascertain quickly ascertain where what his residence was we had to get into the vehicle law enforcement got eyes on the vehicle realized when they look in the back they’ve got a situation on our hands the bomb squad was called in at one point and the bomb sniffing dog hit on the vehicle as it later hit on his private residence in South Fargo I’ll get in a moment to some of the items seized in the vehicle but uh I wanted to say that the the search warrant uh was attained uh in federal court uh later that night and the search itself took place in the late night morning hours the next day first the vehicle if you put up photo number three please this is barakat’s vehicle see position exactly where it was unmoved from the events I just described they’re in the back seat uh you can see one of the Firearms down on the ground I think it is and then uh there are containers there were three large largest gas containers all actually only two more gasoline containers the third was another container but they all had gasoline all filled with gasoline they find in the vehicle two innocuous looking propane tanks we might have for your Weber grill but what they discovered was that they were they were filled one completed at the top the other one halfway up with uh explosive materials concocted at home purchased lawfully you compiled in his home uh two of those in the in the in this vehicle switch to photo number yeah number four please uh quickly yeah just real quick there’s those items simple looking canisters for the gasoline and then the two propane tanks uh as well item number five we showed you the other day we’ll show you that quickly this is a self-styled hangar Dade works by the way fused lighted uh that was in the vehicle as well and then go to item number six these are the items seized from the vehicle at the scene of these atrocities number of weapons a 380 semi-automatic handgun remained in the vehicle during this event nine millimeter handgun utilized as I described I don’t have a better way to describe this uh an AK style rifle not used in this event well used right I mean it’s in the vehicle though and then the 223 round uh weapon used by Barakat to kill uh officer willeen and injure the others also at the scene uh 40 caliber handgun that was also that was on the defendant as well in addition to the nine million millimeter that he was brandishing and then there was another nine millimeter in the vehicle so you got a total of four uh handguns all semi-automatics and two semi-automatic long rifles sorry three a semi-automatic long rifles one and only one and the one he picked with a binary trigger search warrant conducted at the residence in the aftermath a variety of items uh the FBI was kind enough to carry out those kind was just a bad choice of words Mac I I didn’t we appreciate it very much uh the FBI uh sat on the residence waited for the search warrant to come through Mack and his team were working out that night got assigned by a federal judge and they went into for the search the next day a 12-gauge shotgun another 12-gauge shotgun a 22 caliber handgun um a Remington model 700 deer rifle that’s going to sound familiar to a lot of us in the room a very standard deer rifle weapon a another 223 rounded rifle and a nine millimeter handgun an array of live ammunition on the premises strewn about a number of trail cameras uh in in inside his residence and I I there’s a pie maybe also in the in his storage garage or the garage along with the unit but there were a number of these trail cams um several phones and one computer and a variety of grenade parts those items are all seized obviously in relation to this investigation in the next days the forensics investigator experts with the BCI I see some legislators here in the room you just approved four more of these this is why they are expert but there are only so many of them and thankfully we we had the folks to just get right on this they worked around the clock on these computers understanding that we may have a situation where there are other approximate dangers that we need to address immediately I cannot thank them enough for their tireless work tireless isn’t the right word I’m sure they were tired but they weren’t sleeping and they were getting through this on all of your behalf figured out uh a long interesting not not a social media presence not a lot of interaction or people with whom he would interact We are continuing down every lead that we have from these phones and from the electronics and Community contacting other people people with knowledge about him the fact that we’re having this gathering with you today and the one a couple days ago in part you should reassure you that we don’t at this moment see additional threat emanating out of this incident at this moment if that were to change you will know we will let you know that’s Our obligation and that’s what we’ll do of course numbers of searches interesting topics explosive ammo kill fast incendiary rounds mass shooting events how to I guess going through all mass shooting events around the country picking up what he could from reading about other events that have taken place we’ve all heard copycats no word unknown to law enforcement mass shooting events chillingly Area events Area events where there are crowds in the Fargo-Moorhead area Cass County area all around singled out singled out a few as he went along and on the last search on the last night at 10 30 pm on July 13th quote thousands enjoy first day of downtown Fargo street fair there have been inquiries about uh the why what’s the motive I’ve been in and out of law enforcement for 30 years you might be surprised to know how many times you finish up and you’re still scratching your head you’re still scratching your head motive obvious motive to kill I mean driven by hate driven by wanting to kill not particularized to some group that we can discern at this moment not particularized to one individual we can see the horrible winds of fate it’s the best explanation I have for you for how he saw those officers on the way to where he we believe he was going and his pattern of when he got there just casing out and driving around sitting for several minutes and sizing it up maybe you knew there’ll be more law enforcement showing up and he guessed right but he’s very patient going around looking at it from all sides just waiting there would be no way that he would have known that that event couldn’t have obviously it’s a fender bender in South Fargo and he’s just proceeding he’d come a long ways up 25th horrible horrible winds of fate in an instance like this I’m not gonna I’m not a mental health professional and I’m not going to pretend to be one but officers who who lived through something like this who maybe they responded as fast as they could and they couldn’t get there fast enough others the officers on the scene who are ambushed so completely they had no ability no no moment no instant to even reach for their weapons wondering what else could I done should I check that what else should I have done they did all did it all we’ve described officer Robinson’s heroics that every man and woman you all know this every one who raises their hand and they take that oath and they Don that uniform and they carry that badge knows that this Canada does happen all across this country routinely and here too we’re not unknown to this every one of them I know they they I think they’re feeling this from all of you from the community recognition whatever their role on that day you were part of the line you stood between these murderous intentions and acts one officer remaining he goes down what five six blocks to downtown Fargo the heroics that it took to preserve the lives a Carly of Andrew Tyler there wouldn’t have been enough emergency Personnel within a three-state area to meet the needs this is a painful week for law enforcement it’s also a reminder of the heroism of law enforcement and if I could say on their behalf because I’ve heard it from them in the last week too it’s also a reminder how good you are I thought it many times in my life and career public doesn’t get enough credit you’re good you care they see it they feel it I want to thank you on their behalf for that there’s going to be some other comments here and we’ll look forward to your questions thank you thank you attorney general Wrigley my name is Matt Schneider I’m the United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota and on behalf of the Department of Justice I want to express my sincerest condolences to the officers their families and the Fargo Police Department in the wake of this senseless violence and I also want to share our deep gratitude for the heroism of the four officers and the courage and selflessness shown by Officer Zachary Robinson who was graced under unimaginable pressure averted further tragedy as the Attorney General described I want to speak today to the extent that I’m able about the efforts of Fargo or federal law enforcement undertaken since last Friday I also want to touch on the efforts still to come let me first say that there is no daylight between federal law enforcement and our state Partners when it comes to responding to this terrible crime I’ve been in regular contact with attorney general Wrigley since last Friday and in that time we have seen absolutely seamless coordination between the FBI the ATF and our state Partners at BCI they are true professionals and the best Partners in the true sense of the word last Friday ATF Agents from the Fargo field office responded to the officer-involved shooting within minutes of the incident as has been discussed today and earlier this week as shown on the screen the deceased suspect was in the possession of an absolute Arsenal of weapons and explosives that were with him at the scene at the time of the shooting ATF has since conducted crime gun intelligence queries and Analysis interviews and provided Technical Resources towards this investigation and ATF continues to work closely within its areas of expertise with the FBI BCI Fargo police department and other investigators they’re working to determine the motives of the deceased suspect as well as to identify any co-conspirators likewise the FBI’s Minneapolis field office swiftly responded to the scene last Friday they provided immediate assistance to the Fargo police department and to BCI the scene was thoroughly assessed by the FBI the responsibilities for the ongoing investigation were divided amongst the agencies on the scene based on their areas of respective expertise as the investigation progressed it became evident that the judicial process would be necessary to gather further Evidence therefore within hours of the shooting the United States attorney’s office working with the FBI obtained a federal search warrant for the deceased suspect’s home pursuant to that warrant the FBI began a search of the home alongside her Partners at BCI which also continued to investigate at the scene as the Attorney General mentioned FBI agents tirelessly searched the suspect’s home through the early morning hours and into the day on Saturday and while searching the residents FBI agents came across a significant amount of evidence as you’ve heard discussed today that included the electronic devices that were described by the Attorney General these electronic devices were lawfully seized and shared with BCI for the purpose of conducting an examination those devices and the other items recovered for evidentiary purposes are currently undergoing meticulous examination and evaluation as our investigation continues the FBI remains fully committed to working closely with our local state and federal partners understandable and completely Justified to want to know why why did the senseless violence happen what could possibly motivate someone to Ambush young officers in the line of duty how could murderous chaos and this type of evil arise on a familiar Street in Fargo North Dakota a week after this horrible tragedy federal law enforcement agents are working around the clock with their state counterparts at BCI to find answers and as that investigation continues I want to be clear about three things number one after an aggressive review of The Evidence thus far we have no reason to believe the public is in further Danger number two even at this early stage of the investigation if there was clear evidence of motive we would share it and number three when this investigation has been concluded and no stone is left Unturned we will update the public as we are able that will either be at a briefing like this one or it will be through our filings in court in the meantime federal law enforcement will continue to work closely with our partners at BCI on this important investigation and we’ll continue to hold the officers their families and the Fargo PD close in our hearts thank you sir and thanks to all of our partners up here have been tremendous we have worked seamlessly with all of them and our community we’re very appreciative for those efforts I want to provide a little bit of happy news to you in terms of Officer Doris and house I’m sorry um yesterday they were both able to stand up out of their breads briefly which is miraculously very good news and a blessing for all of us very happy about that they continue to have a significant rule to recovery not insurmountable but we need those continued thoughts and prayers for them and their families who have gone through tremendous horror here in the last week so I wanted to let everyone know about that and uh as soon as they are in a position we’re excited to get them back with the rest of the team and the family I’m going to go from there so that that’s a little bit of good news and and all of the chaos that we’ve had to deal with the other thing I like to reiterate and in knowing a little more about this now and listening to the attorney general was clear that this individual was a calculated Insidious murderous individual Dead set on hurting killing as many people as possible he had the intent he had the commitment he had the means but for the intervention of our courageous and brave Fargo PD personnel Zach Robinson obviously without doubt Courageous Courageous the last man there to prevent more from happening but all of our officers Jake willeen likely the first person hit that would seem to me to make a lot of sense based on his fatal injury he took that bullet that someone else in our community might have otherwise taken Andrew Donis Tyler Hawes took other bullets that other people in our community would have otherwise likely taken and so I don’t want to last on anyone that all of these folks cleaning our firefighters who were out there in a very dangerous situation did the very best they could to keep all of us safe there’s a lot of concern legitimate concern about other threats and danger to the community we agree we’re concerned as well where you’ve been meeting here with the mayor and others in evaluating our special events to see if there’s other things that we can add for safety and so you may see more visible signs to help prevent as much as we can and there have always been and will continue to be other things that you don’t see but rest assured that our Personnel are out there in many ways both physically and from an intelligence platform working with their state and federal local partners to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to prevent harm to our community and allowing you to go to go out and enjoy a beautiful city entertainment spend time with your family without fear of that type of activity occurring but the reality also is there’s evil in the world this guy was one of them he’s an evil individual and the only thing that stops evil are likely two things an Engaged supportive Community which we have their ability to communicate and let us know about things that they know or see and we’ve seen this across the country as well where some of these types of mass events have been upended by the good work of community members sometimes family members which can be very difficult when the person is a member of your family but you’re seeing this and you know this isn’t right and bad things might happen we encourage that interaction the only other option is the courageous intervention of our law enforcement personnel that’s what happened on July 14th and we should never forget that we avoided I think a major catastrophe here in our city and it’s still a very big tragedy the loss of officer will lean officer Doris and Haas who are injured um you know that that’s going to be with us for a while and then the great you know the heroic efforts of Officer Robinson as well so and think about all the Personnel from Fargo PD who responded to this giving life-saving efforts to their colleagues right so um tremendous work transport by the fire department um I just want you to know that we are safe this is a safe City but evils out there we’re doing our best to look for it and prevent it we appreciate your help in that effort as well thank you just one thing yeah uh for Jake welleen we’re going to have a funeral on Saturday in his hometown area I just want to remind the public that next Wednesday at one o’clock at Chiles Arena we will have a memorial service and would ask the public to honor that Jake just started for our force and sometimes it’s hard to know all the wonderful things about the young man but I think if the community can reach out and attend that that would be tremendous I’ll appreciate all the goal funding that people are doing for our officers that are wounded uh tremendous Spirit amongst the team that took Sandy now we all have a heavy heart and I think many of us are grieving as time goes on but I would appreciate it if the community would turn out of the memorial service and honor the man that gave his life for us thank you one last thing before we get the questions I wanted to put this phone number out there this is a I’m told the first photograph of Muhammad Barakat that’s out publicly I thought I had seen something in the earliest days of this but it was internally with some reports and so this photograph is out we’re going to find something with better resolution but there could be people out there who might have interesting information and I would just ask you to not judge for yourself maybe what’s interesting his comings and goings associations information you might have I’d ask you to call the BCI that information 701 of course three two eight that’s easy to remember like every state number but 5500. three two eight fifty five hundred with any information you might have uh about whether it’s this incident something that you that you saw or uh the companies and goings the the life and practices of Mohamed Barakat that would be glad to uh take your questions I I would be remiss if I didn’t pass this along to and the mayor uh just mentioned this um in talking with the families of the injured officers and yesterday I spoke and with uh Carly’s family and yesterday I spoke with with the Jeff and Amy officer willeen’s parents I hope that you know how much they feel the outpouring from everybody I really hope the community understands that because they their hearts are running over they uh have felt very very supported and that includes by the the members of the Fargo Police Department um and a recognition of the life-giving care of the Fire Department chief uh I know how proud you are with good reason and everyone else and I was asked to pass that along and I’m doing it publicly I I uh the people of this region and these organizations uh need to be congratulated and thanked because these families uh are feeling feeling that love and support that we’ll take any questions that we’re allowed to handle we’re going to have to make sure you got a microphone on you because there are people watching remotely so be patient with us if you could um Can can you share more details on uh Muhammad barakat’s background as well as uh what specifically points to potentially further Carnage at the street for I believe is the location you mentioned true a little bit not not a great amount more about uh you know we know a little bit more but at this point what I would share with you is he was a Syrian National he came to the United States uh we’re told I’m informed by our federal Partners I came here on an asylum uh request in 2012. he was he was uh he became a U.S citizen in 2019. um working off and on different odd jobs uh all of which you know we’re pursuing those matters and and interviewing people and that’s about what I’m going to say about that as to a specific intent the months actually across years seems like he lost the will at one point maybe if there was a pause in there uh and then then it regained again where he’s looking at the mass casualty events talking about looking for uh the impacts of specific types of injuries uh looking for particular kinds of Firepower that are available and certain kinds of bullets that are available and then amassing um this weaponry at all and then moving significant amounts of it into into his vehicle that day including the last minutes we’ve got video of him going out of his place with a suitcase in which she’s got you know more weapons more rounds so you know his intent was pretty evident as I said in the days leading up to there he’s looking for specifically to the region for large crowd events in the region and uh based on the time and the direction where he was going he was uh he was either likely to be taking a right when he got to Main Avenue going downtown taking a left when he got to Main Avenue and going out to the fairgrounds those are the two large uh large events going on at that time 1800 rounds of ammunition uh in the uh in the vehicle multiple weapons which I just described a vest it was not a tactical vest it wasn’t a bulletproof vest but he had a vest just absolutely stuffed with uh with magazines and uh one piece of information we picked up just yesterday uh putting the finishing touches on his shooting skills in the last hours before this assault last question applies for Mac was um Barakat on the radar of federal agents or federal law enforcement at all prior to this I’m going to defer to the ongoing investigation on that Tasha last press conference there was some talk about him being known Bearcat being known a little bit to law enforcement to some degree either local or federal can you explain anything more about that we know some more I’m going to relay a little bit more um there were some contacts along the line of uh he had a fire in his place cooking fire I think it was and uh um and there was some contact with the fire department there was a report that was made uh some while back I’m not going to go into the details of it also because I don’t have it it’s called The Guardian report it’s a federal report of some kind there was talk of him being on a watch list information that we have from our federal Partners is he was not on the terrorist watch list but there was this Guardian report some years back made by a member uh someone who was familiar with him or knew him um it was I’m not going to say much about it except to say it is not we are told about a threat of violence or an act of this nature or anything along these lines I’m going to leave it at that um what about any um affiliations religious uh anything that you’ve discovered so far that you can disclose if I say to you that I’m not going to discuss that there’s going to be assumptions right people are going to say oh they think they know something I would caution people along those lines actually Mac and I talked about this a little bit this morning and I it is it is fair to say that we have we’ve established no ties even to the Muslim Community here in the area um we have no ties been established in that regard and uh um beyond that I don’t have much at this point it seems more notable that he’s Muslim than that I’m Lutheran that from where we’re at with the investigation right now that’s fair I think we should we should put that out there and if you can give an update on the civilian to a shot forgive me I’m can you give an update on this civilian to a shot I have I spoke to Carly’s uh mother a couple of days ago and I believe that Carly was moved out of the IC unit as well I I called her mom on the way down here today and waiting for a call back um she was very seriously injured she’s got a uh a medical road up ahead she’s in good spirits though I talked to her uh over the weekend Saturday or Sunday maybe both um she was in in relatively good spirits having gone through this um I assured her uh that she’s come to the right kind of community told her a little bit about what I know about this place uh that my family’s called home our whole lives um you know came here and uh and has great at Great plans I think has great plans but she’s got a hurdle here uh with her health and I just have every every every belief that she’s gonna uh Make Her Way Forward she’s um we got a little ways before she’s gonna be able to put some weight on things but she was very severely injured that’s a high power round and um and she’s got a ways to go but uh uh great parents that was good to talk with them and and I know they appreciate the outpouring in this community that didn’t even really know her daughter yet uh with Barakat having seemingly no online presence and the fact that uh he didn’t seem very connected in the community um maybe wasn’t communicating with people via cell phone much what other are you looking into or are others looking into some other means of communication he might have been using um and if so what would those be like perhaps the dark web or something I’ll just leave it at the uh perfectly reasonable question I’m just going to leave it at yes I mean all all Pursuits are on I mean everything that they find when we go into the phones I mean those are a road map to your life right the phone and get on the computer and see what that presence is everybody’s got some presence everybody’s got some footprint and uh you know you just keep going through financial documents Financial records anything that you can find I uh having spent 10 years as the United States Attorney here in the state and uh 30 years in out of law enforcement you’d be surprised sometimes that how just an amazingly resourceful federal state local Tribal Law Enforcement are and pursuing all and in all avenues based on the evidence that that they’re finding as they go along when I mentioned the scant presence on social media I mean I thought I was the only person in America that never had a Facebook account uh he just doesn’t have that that we can see now doesn’t mean there never was you know you never know when you’re going back and looking around for others but we’re a week into this and it continues maybe I missed this attorney general but how how far back does the timeline go when he was searching out different Methods of Mayhem and and and how long does it back does the acquiring of weapons go about the weapons Mike how far back when did you start compiling the weapons and then how far back did the timeline go of searching how long was he preparing to do this something um the searches I know go back a few years uh Chief Deputy Ness was just looking at it again on the way over here do you have a do you remember the for this year back on the searches yeah I think you heard her preliminarily the furthest back that we have is 2018 that we see on those searches again do we find more I don’t know and as for the firearms to our knowledge well we’ve been informed by our federal Partners they’re all purchased lawfully and I don’t know if the U.S attorney has information along those lines that you can share for how far that goes back but we have reason to conclude that it goes back a little ways yeah the ATF has not concluded their investigation on that you can be assured they’re looking into whether any component parts of these guns were illegally provided or things of that nature but it’s ongoing Mike do we know why he stopped at the incident to harm the police officers is there is there evidence in the in the search of his computer that he had something against police officers or what do we know there that’s a good question uh to the first part we don’t know and I think it was just happens to answer I said how could he possibly know anyone know that there was a crash on 25th and he happened to just be proceeding down that way and had been for quite some while we’ve got video of him being on 25th quite a way itself so he just happened upon that but his intention we’ve described uh where we get to that and he gets to the scene and he starts casing it out in the way that we described and forgive me Mike I know there’s a second part to that you you said a second part to that is there evidence in search of a dislike or hatred of police officers still preliminary we don’t yet have anything there’s not like some screed against the police there’s uh the uh Federal authorities are going through some some uh they they need to use some language experts um foreign language experts to go through a couple of items around there maybe we’ll see something but nothing online so far nothing on the phone so far nothing that we can gather from the community we’ve talked to some family members no uh nothing along those lines yet not foreclosed at all one more is there you said that in the propane tanks there was explosive materials so was there not propane in them and was that were they filled with something else sorry thank you another good question Mike thanks I I didn’t mention that in my remarks should have the bomb squad sees those items and they have detonated those items and it was quite dramatic I mean anyone’s who’s familiar with substances like Tannerite uh which which are ignited by a high power rifle this is a full canister full of it one is full and one is half they’ve been detonated um I’ve reviewed that evidence uh the the video evidence and everything else of it quite dramatic explosions and of course they disintegrate the uh the metal encasement of the uh of the tank so that was uh easily detonated uh explosive device and um he had the means by which to to blow it up anytime he wanted to and so that that remains uh an area obviously of interest in in tracking down the where when why and the how isn’t very complicated like I said tell us about bearcat’s history prior to coming to the US in 2012. uh as a state law enforcement official I don’t have access to the information about that and I don’t know that that’s something the U.S attorney can speak to I know is uh having been the U.S attorney I know U.S attorneys don’t like being spoken for so I’m not going to do that yeah and not to sound like a broken record but that that’s part of the investigation family and are they in the United States and if you have did he make any comments to them about these events uh we have spoken with he has some family in the United States I’ll leave it at that they do not live in the area um they’re outside of the region uh they have been spoken to uh doesn’t sound like a particularly close communication uh pattern between them and no uh no information that I can give to you right now not because I’m holding it back just nothing to to share along those lines at this point but those Communications will continue as part of the investigation can you say it all perhaps a message to the Muslim Community here because there is some concern and worry that just given the name that there may be some sort of tie and while a motive is unclear or you have said it doesn’t seem he intended to be tied to any particular group again there is some concern um I I have the perfect thing to say along those lines except uh to caution people about about that I mean we would be sharing if we had something particular I said I think I made a comment before that probably speaks that better than anything else at this point the investigation I I find his Muslim Faith No More notable than my Lutheran faith um we uh we have established and been told about and seen no ties between him and the Muslim Community here and uh and saw nothing in the online search to this point you know we’ve all read about people being radicalized all of those things and perhaps people can forgive the impulse or whatever I don’t know the impulse of wonder but if you know if and when that becomes part of this that will be shared but we’re sharing with you now what we know and uh what we’ve seen and I I stand by my early comment repeated right now foreign Mac um were there any Muslim or Islamic faith related materials recovered at the suspect’s home recovered from his home yeah was there was there were there any I mean is there a Quran is there a Muslim you know you’re you’re sounds like you’re assuming he was of the Muslim faith and saying it’s not necessarily related to the uh to the to the crime um and and some of the Muslim Community are saying just because of things Muhammad doesn’t mean he’s Muslim I’m asking if there’s anything that would lead to you believe yeah and just because someone has a Bible it doesn’t make them a Christian either so but I can answer your question is that there was a there was a Quran onto this house but all right and then the other question for you is um uh co-conspirators um you know some people are surmising with that amount of guns you know you can only shoot one gun at a time so if her plan was to go to a downtown street fair or some other uh popular populated event uh you know you couldn’t possibly use all those weapons yourselves anyway I mean is there still a possibility there was a co-conspirator uh there’s no way for us to foreclose that there’s a co-conspirator we can tell you that we’re out here talking about it a week later because at this point uh we don’t believe there to be a present concern uh of others but I our investigation has not foreclosed that and I don’t I I’ve learned a little bit in 30 years of this you don’t foreclose things that can materialize in an investigation so that’s what we’re doing and um as for you know arming himself to the teeth as they say like that I mean he had he had three high power rifles in that vehicle and he selected the one that gave him the best opportunity to put out the most rounds uh in the Mayhem that he wanted to create and the murderous intent that he had um the the other rounds 1800 rounds well he got through 30. rounds out of that weapon like that he got through he got through that actually 40. we think 40 41 rounds uh out of that weapon and that’s when it gets incapacitated by Officer Robinson leaving 20 more in it he wasn’t in a position to get back into that vehicle but he can put a lot you can put a lot of rounds through one of those weapons in a hurry so um I I don’t I it raises the question but it doesn’t answer the question that there had to be more conspirators because he had more guns he was a gun he was a a gun a person who had amassed quite uh an array and perhaps to give himself more flexibility depending on what it was he was intending on doing because he was searching a lot of different events and our belief that day we’ve already stated and he selected the weapon in accord with what his intentions were that day and developed that moment when he saw the police officers cased it out for a while and and waited and in fact more officers did show up a Mac next question for you actually two-part question one true mentioned earlier something about a guardian report is there a federal Guardian report that would be like some kind of a list that he would have been on what is that well you heard the Attorney General’s comment Scott I’m going to refrain from commenting further beyond what I’ve already said earlier that’ll all bear out in time but for now I’m going to defer to the ongoing investigation but you just you can’t tell me whether there’s a guardian report or not I think you heard the Attorney General’s comment Scott okay so there is last question then for you um Mac are there any plans or is there even a means to do uh you know an investigation that goes back to his Refugee uh application I know that there’s investigations that are done before these people are accepted for Refugee status is that information still readily available as far as the investigation I had to answer that a little bit indirectly I have full faith that the FBI working in conjunction with the ATF and our partners at BCI at the state level are going to conduct a completely thorough investigation that investigation is going on right now it’s being conducted aggressively and intensely and we trust them to follow all appropriate leads so was this an act of terrorism was there some orchestration behind it behind beyond the terror that was offered and my question would pertain to how quickly the federal warrant came and Mac I’m curious if the Department of Homeland Security is part of this couple of questions in a row there Joel I’ll do my best to answer them with regard to motive if we had clear evidence of that we would share it we would absolutely share it the State of Affairs is that the investigation is ongoing ATF FBI BCI they will all be looking into the issue of motive what was the second part of the question how fast is the Department of Homeland Security involved in your investigation I remember that the second question that was the third one well the second question is you know when you look at this the federal warrant came right away that’s not always so easy well it is easy when you have dedicated people like our partners in the FBI and The Talented career assisting the United States attorneys and sports staff and the U.S attorney’s Office okay we wouldn’t think to do otherwise that was one one more um did the murderer work out of Holly Minnesota and if he did work on a holly Minnesota why can’t we have a more clear picture why can’t there be a more picture or a picture that shows him more clearly if in fact Mr attorney general your investigation has shown that and there was uh the opportunity for example for him to be on a website I uh in addition to us going through and trying to find a photograph the other day I I got the message from you about the the provision that you believed or some believe might supersede those dot provisions and we looked into that I’m not sure that we agree we but I am I do want to get it out though I mean in fact if we get out today we want to a higher resolution picture would be better uh you can’t live in a community like this and not have some people have some familiarity with you so we’re going to do that and I would you know maybe the next couple of of hours we can uh to get that out uh Mac has an excuse he works for somebody I guess I don’t I’m not sure so we’re gonna we’re gonna probably move ahead and be able to get that out it’s something that Mac and I have discussed a bit here in the last days and um absolutely just bear with us for me for another couple of hours we want to get this one out uh now but that’s what we’ve got right now I don’t have anything for you on that I have anything to say for you on that we’ve got we’ve had some contacts with different uh businesses that he’s uh worked at over recent years and those are ongoing discussions and I just don’t want to uh alert people to that and that can obstruct an investigation pretty quickly when people start getting other people coming to them and and um it can undermine our efforts so we don’t want to do that um is there any other points towards Barakat intentionally creating a diversion that’s a that’s a really good question state intentionally do creating a diversion it’s just such a such a common technique uh for people who want to engage in a mass casualty event which we do think is very well established we think it’s a parent even before we get to the computer frankly based on the armaments that he had then when you get into the searches you realize it’s a topic of interest to him and not because he wanted to be a first responder he was looking at events out there uh sizing them up all around he had interest and was teaching that all around not just in the region at all women had one for him to read so um but to know it with certainty like I know the names of my three children no I uh pretty common in law enforcement you don’t again you don’t you can’t climb inside their brains and people don’t you know write it all down out but it’s a good question and I think all evidence uh points in a direction in that regard and it’s a very common technique uh and uh based on the search from the computer how he was armed where he was headed and he sees this event that this tends to distract him and give you an opportunity to do something to begin the process of carrying out what he wanted to ultimately carry out it uh I I said it before you know the horrible winds of Fate sometimes that those events fell into fell into place and fell into his path uh can someone just clarify what exactly in general a guardian report is I gotta tell you I literally had never heard the phrase before until last Friday night it wasn’t it wasn’t a phrase with which I was feeling we’re all familiar with the terrorist watch list and I don’t know uh when they came up with the uh the reporting system that led to Guardian reports I I am literally never heard it referenced uh in light of an investigation until this instance and still have not been provided a copy of the Guardian report in this in this case the fact that he has no is there anything you wanted to add Matt can you provide any insight now that you’re the U.S attorney I think that’s pretty well covered essentially it’s a way for the public to engage local law enforcement and notify them about things of concerned so somebody from the public could that have been when the fire department responded to the the fire at his home that they would have maybe forwarded some report onto law enforcement that they saw some concerning items yeah there’s a lot a lot of information on our part up here so it just asked you to not conflate the two the fire incident had nothing to do with the guardian report totally separate totally separate I may be answered in the same way because it was part at the same time because they were I was asked the question by someone generally law enforcement contacts and okay uh I mean to be clear on all of these These are we’re answering you the best that we can both responsibly and then also what we know at this point don’t come back to me in two weeks and say drew you didn’t tell us that we had that information we’re we’re taking the step of moving forward here this is another area Mac and I have been you know you talk about no daylight just seeing that this recognizing that this is an important thing to do the public uh has has very understandable concern and and and love and outpouring of course for law enforcement and for and for Carly but also about what’s being done in response to it so that’s why we’re doing this and taking this extraordinary step but then we’ve got constraints on what we can share with you the fact that you can’t find pictures or social media presences that just kind of show how far under the radar he’s been operating in Fargo and it is that ad to this investigation why someone would be like that I mean that that speaks to it I mean I we tell our kids all the time right and everyone once it’s out there it’s out there and that’s right so it’s a little out of the ordinary there’s nothing nothing out there um when I say nothing but I mean there’s been some things I people provided a video of saying this they think this is him can you verify this is him I can’t I can’t verify that that’s him not because I’m being Coy I just I look at it and I don’t know we all change with weight gain weight loss we don’t know on on those matters we may know in a few weeks we may have some of those answers right now you’ve got the image that we’ve got that that with the resolution that we’ve got uh to Joel’s question both a day or two ago and now we’re going to try and try to get that dot picture out who thought right I mean we’ve all got our driver’s license we’re showing it to everybody and there’s all sorts of uh legal hurdles and we’ll try to we’ll try to move that out too and just one last question here you said it appeared on his internet searches he lost the will can you elaborate you know is he planning something years ago or what did you mean by those comments so I I just meant that that it wasn’t a steady stream of like every other day he’s going online and finding it it seemed like he went along the lines of looking there’s a little more intense search period and then it abated for a while and then he he rejoined the effort to gain knowledge about mass casualty events uh and so forth that that’s all it’s just uh it’s just the reading of the tea leaves that are provided by the search history he Drew you and Mac touched a little bit on the forensics as kind of a detailed phone question but was he fairly active in texting and calling this past month I mean there was did he have a lot of contacts that he was in communication with um days prior um I’ve said pretty much everything I’m going to say about that at this point other than to just say with the information that we have right now um I I would characterize it as not very not very active okay and then Mac you said the forensics being done on writings and language um and a lot of people talk about manifestos in cases like this and it doesn’t sound like there was one but as they’re writing you guys are examining stuff that he had maybe written online or just emails what have you yeah that’s all part of the ongoing investigation