Minnesota has been so slow to emerge. A mob of "youths" — it now turns out they are juveniles, so their identities are being protected — believed to be of Somali extraction attacked innocent people waiting for a light rail train at the East Bank University of Minnesota station. They were wielding either hammers or pipes.



East Bank Light Rail station (photo credit: Runner 1928).

The first reports came not from any established news outlets, but rather from people monitoring police scanners and posting the Facebook page of 2nd Pct Minneapolis Crime Watch & Information. Those reports were, in turn, posted to Alpha News (hat tip: Glenn Reynolds, Intapundit), which writes:

A mob of eight to 10 males wielding hammers descended upon bystanders at the East Bank Light Rail station onaudio. 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.

A long and spirited discussion thread on 2nd Pct Minneapolis Crime Watch & Information provided lots of follow-up, including:

A representative from the MPD's 2nd Precinct, which covers the area where the incident occurred, responded that the case was being handled by the University of