Officer who killed St. Cloud mall attacker receives Congressional Medal of Bravery

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (KMSP) - An Avon, Minnesota police officer who shot and killed an attacker at a central Minnesota mall was recognized Thursday for his bravery during the attack. 

At a ceremony on Thursday, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer presented Officer Jason Falconer with a Congressional Badge of Bravery, which honors exceptional acts of bravery from law enforcement. 

Falconer, a firearms instructor and competitive shooter, was off-duty and shopping at Crossroads Center in St. Cloud in September 2016 when Dahir Adan, dressed in a security guard uniform, stabbed and injured 10 people at the mall. Falconer shot Adan after Adan lunged at him with a knife.

“I don’t think anyone will forget where they were that night, I called the mayor and the told me about this officer from Avon who saved lives and that was true,” Klobuchar said. 

Falconer insists he was just doing his job in stopping Adan that night. 

“I want to take the opportunity to thank those that helped throughout this process,” Falconer said. “It’s over, it’s done and we move on and thank everybody for their support throughout the process.”