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(KMSP) - As the death toll continues to climb in Somalia after a terrorist attack, Somali Minnesotans gathered for a vigil at the Cedar Riverside neighborhood.
Elected leaders, local imams and pastors mourned with Somali American families in Minneapolis, where the close connections many still have with the country are striking.
Several prominent people from the Twin Cities were in Mogadishu when the terrorist attack happened.
Ahmed Hirsi, who’s married to Representative Ilhan Omar, was one of those who narrowly escaped death.
“It was the saddest thing ever because I was there, and I was telling people that this place was beautiful and it’s peaceful,” he said.
Hirsi had been invited to Somalia by government leaders to take part in a constitutional convention. He posted a photo of himself enjoying the beautiful seaside just moments before the blast.
“You could see the windows through the smoke. It was just chaos; the whole city shook. I don’t know what they used, but it was a huge, huge explosion,” Hirsi said.
Hirsi was eventually able to get in touch with his wife to tell her and their children he was alive.
“Trying to think about what mothers must be going through who have lost their children, what children like my children are going through who lost parents…[I'm] thinking about how lucky I am to have my husband arrive home safely,” Ilhan Omar said.
Omar said her relatives in Somalia are all alive, but there are many others who attended Monday's vigil who have not heard from their loved ones.
Despite the unimaginable, though, the people of this resilient community vow to keep going.
“I was having a wonderful time, so this will not stop us. This will not deter. No, they won’t do that,” Hirsi said.
A Bloomington man was killed in the blast after he had only been in the country for two hours. He leaves behind a wife and three children.