Muslim group sounds alarms over firearm threat in school bus

Parents of a Muslim student told CAIR-MN that, an older boy at the school threatened to shoot the Muslim student, a third-grader, and then he brought a replica firearm on board a school bus.

Hawzah News Agency-A Minnesota Islamic leader called Tuesday for heightened protection of Muslim students statewide after a threat was reported toward a Washington County grade school student.

Parents of a Muslim student at Afton-Lakeland Elementary School told CAIR-MN that, an older boy at the school threatened to shoot the Muslim student, a third-grader; the same boy reportedly brought what Hutton described as a replica firearm on board a school bus.

The driver confiscated the weapon and called authorities, averting a “major tragedy,” Executive Director Jaylani Hussein said Tuesday.

“We are asking all school districts across the state to step up protection for Muslim and other minority students in the wake of this incident and because of the wave of racist and anti-Muslim incidents nationwide following the Nov. 8 election,” he said.

CAIR-MN said Tuesday that it is also looking into other recent incidents involving female Muslim students who were allegedly assaulted and had their hijabs pulled at Northdale Middle School in Coon Rapids and St. Louis Park High School, Hussein said.

Students in St. Louis Park reported the incident occurred on Nov. 11. School officials have stated there is no evidence of the assault, and no actions have been brought against the student who allegedly committed the assault.

In another incident, Hennepin County prosecutors on Tuesday charged a 56-year-old man with making racial slurs and assaulting a man for speaking Somali aboard a Metro Transit bus over the weekend.

Authorities said that police responded Saturday to a report of a fight on board a bus near Chicago Avenue and E. Lake Street in south Minneapolis. When they arrived, officers found White allegedly yelling racial and sexual slurs as he exited the bus, according to prosecutors.

The victim told police that he had been speaking Somali with a friend on the bus when the defendant suddenly got up and started yelling at him to “speak English,” before punching the victim several times in the face and body, the complaint said.