The threat is everywhere. Can any reasonable person really say otherwise?

10 people at the Crossroads Center Mall In St. Cloud, Minnesota quickly fell victim to a random stabbing attack by a man later identified as 20-year-old Dahir Adan, a member of that state’s prominent Somali community. The attack ended when Adan was shot and killed by an off-duty policeman. 

Fortunately, none of the victims suffered any life-threatening injuries.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reportedly investigating the attack as a “potential act of terrorism.” According to law enforcement, Adan mentioned Allah during the attack, and asked one victim if he was Muslim.

As reported by Reuters, the Islamic State issued a statement through its “official” news agency, Amaq, on Sunday, saying, “The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition.”

Adan was wearing the uniform of the private security company Securitas, for which he previously worked, when he committed the attack. It should be noted, however, that Securitas does not provide security services to the Crossroads Center mall.

So, here we are - another ISIS-inspired/radical Islam-inspired attack in the United States. Only this one was not in a major American population center, but at a shopping plaza in a modest-sized Midwestern city.

Sad as it is to say, terror attacks in cities like New York and Boston are no longer surprises, but many still can’t believe that Islamic terror is really finding its way into the American heartland.

It absolutely, positively is, however.

It is a mistake to think that there is any such thing as a “safe zone” anymore. There isn’t. If shoppers at a mall in (relatively) little, very out-of-the-way St. Cloud, Minnesota are not safe from the threat of terror, that is your sign that no one is.

Think, and plan, accordingly.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large