A cop-killing Syrian gunman could have slaughtered hundreds if his planned mass shooting hadn’t been foiled, North Dakota’s Attorney General has told DailyMail.com.
Andrew Wrigley said Mohamad Barakat, 37, was a ‘loner’ and ‘a force of evil’ with no obvious motive for his Fargo attack in July, which killed a rookie cop.
He said Barakat turned up to Downtown Fargo Street Fair attended by thousands armed ‘to the nth degree’ with two AR style rifles, an AK, two hand grenades, and 1,800 rounds.
The gunman took down three cops and a civilian just after 3pm – fatally shooting 23-year-old Afghanistan veteran Jake Wallin – before he was neutralized by ‘heroic’ Fargo officer Zach Robinson, 32.
More than a month later officials have combed through Barakat’s electronic records – and his motive is still a mystery.
Gunman Mohamad Barakat, who moved to the US in 2012 as an asylum seeker, was on his way to carry out an attack in Fargo at a parade or during the town’s summertime festivities in July
Officer Jake Wallin, 23, was shot and killed by the gunman while responding to the traffic crash
North Dakota Attorney General Andrew Wrigley told DailyMail.com Mohamad Barakat, 37, was a complete loner and ‘a force of evil’ with no discernible incentive for his horrific attack
‘We have gone through and evaluated his phones, his computer at his residence, and to this point, detected nothing that could begin to build the foundations of what would be a motive,’ Wrigley told DailyMail.com.
‘We really detected no religious, political or other type of motivation for planning and carrying out such a heinous crime – and nothing about the victims he selected that day.
‘He had no social media presence, he had very few people with whom he interacted. He seldom used his cellphone, there were very few calls and texts on there.
‘It left us with really just question marks about what would have motivated somebody to plan and carry out such a nefarious act.’
Wrigley added it’s not unusual for mass shooters to appear devoid of a religious or political motive – with many simply being ‘filled with hate or anger’ or a desire to ‘make their mark in some nefarious, horrible way’.
‘I’ve been in and out of law enforcement for 30 years and I can tell you it’s more common than people might imagine that there’s just no discernible motivation,’ he said.
‘We’ve got cellphones and online presence and searches, and we can electronically compile people’s lives, so it becomes more difficult to hide a motivation of some kind.
‘Sometimes people are just awful, and they’re filled with hate or anger, and they want to make their mark in some nefarious, horrible way.
‘We’re just left with a hateful soul who wanted to create a mass casualty event for the attention that it would bring to him in some way and maybe he would feel some sense of power… there are forces of evil in this world.’
Barakat lies on the ground next to his car after killing one cop and injuring two others on July 14
Barakat lies on the ground next to his car after killing one cop and injuring two others on July 14
Wrigley said Barakat was ‘armed to the nth degree’ on July 14, and was ‘capable of killing a swathe of people’.
‘I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t have been scores of people,’ he said. ‘The three-state region wouldn’t have had sufficient emergency personnel responding for the injuries that would have come of that.
‘Our team was taxed quite mightily by the injuries that took place.’
Officers were only around at the point he began firing by chance, as they responded to a vehicle crash nearby.
The gun Barakat shot Wallin with had a binary trigger on which ‘very significantly increased his capacity for shooting off rounds’ – almost to the extent of a machine gun. Binary triggers allow shooters to fire off one round when the trigger is pulled and another when it is released, effectively doubling a weapon’s firing capacity.
‘In light of all the weapons… and the confined space in downtown Fargo where there were thousands of people on the street – the casualty toll is incalculable,’ Wrigley said.
Robinson, the officer who neutralized Barakat, had to see him take down his colleagues and was the last man standing on the scene.
Describing the bloody attack, Wrigley said: ‘You’ve got three officers down, and he [Robinson] radios in and shouts ‘just send everybody’.
Barakat’s terrifying arsenal of weapons. He had 1,800 live rounds, an AK-47, tactical gear, explosives and a grenade
The attack, had he been able to carry it out, would have been so deadly that North Dakota officials say there wouldn’t have been enough medical and emergency personnel in three states to respond to it
The gunman’s vehicle was parked nearby when two other vehicles crashed on the road, drawing police attention. He used that moment to launch his attack on police
‘There’s something about that – he had to be the loneliest man on planet earth, he’s the last man standing, he’s the last one out there who’s got the ability to stop this.
‘There is no back up within assistance distance because the officers have all been shot – in Jake’s case he’s been killed.
‘He puts out the call ‘send everybody’. They did in fact, and you can hear in the background the sirens are coming, they’re just minutes away.
‘But the work of neutralizing Barakat was and had to be completed by officer Robinson.’
Wrigley said Robinson is a ‘reluctant hero’ who ‘understands he saved the city and the region from much greater carnage’, and has not yet received recognition on a national level.
Meanwhile, Barakat had been on the FBI’s radar, as exclusively revealed by DailyMail.com, after being reported via an anonymous tip in 2021.
Wrigley said all he knew about the tip was that Barakat raised concerns by ‘talking angrily’ and owning several weapons.
But he said police officers visited his home three times in 2021 and found he owned the weapons legally.
The cops spoke with Barakat once, during which time he insisted he had ‘no ill-intentions’ despite his enormous weapons inventory. They then decided not to pursue any kind of action against him.
Law enforcement personnel salute during closing ceremonies during funeral services for Fargo Police Officer Jake Wallin on Saturday, July 22, 2023
Hero cop Officer Zachary Robinson, 32, who killed the suspect
Officers Andrew Dotas, left, and Tyler Hawes, right, were critically injured but have now been released from hospital
Wrigley said he is ‘confident’ nothing more could have been done in their investigation – though he flagged that in his 30-year career he had never come across the FBI’s ‘guardian’ system before.
The system allows civilians to report concerning behavior to the FBI, who then send local authorities around to investigate and report back, rather than their own agents.
Asked whether he had any concerns about this process in light of what has happened, Wrigley said he did not.
Barakat was permitted entry to the US in 2012 as a political asylum seeker from Syria and became naturalized in 2019.
Officers Tyler Hawes and Andrew Dotas were critically injured, along with civilian Karlee Koswick. They were each shot multiple times, Wrigley said.
Video shows the three officers lying motionless on the ground as Robinson nears Barakat’s vehicle. Little is known of Barakat, who worked odd jobs in Fargo.
Officer Hawes is shown leaving the hospital
Fargo Police Chief David Zibolski speaks during funeral services for Fargo Police Officer Jake Wallin at Pequot Lakes High School in Pequot Lakes, Minn., on Saturday, July 22, 2023
At one time, he worked at Fleet Farm, a firearms store in Fargo. He also frequented gun ranges and was seen there in the hours before the shooting on July 14.
It’s unclear if he had a family before or after he moved to the US, and federal immigration officials are yet to share details of his political asylum application.
Before the incident, his only crime or infraction was a speeding ticket. The probe remains active and is ‘proceeding to its logical conclusion,’ Wrigley said.
Investigators are awaiting information from FBI interviews as well as firearms testing to ensure Barakat’s weapons aren’t connected to other illegal activity, the attorney general said.