I lived in the small town of Dassel, MN for 15 years of my life. Dassel is a 35-minute drive south of St. Cloud, MN. My heart hurt to hear about what happened at the Crossroads Center Mall this past Saturday. I can't tell you how many weekends I spent at that mall with friends and family shopping and walking around. I have gone to that mall every year to buy Christmas presents; it's where I bought my prom dress, it's where I watched my little sister get her ears pierced. That mall is where I have spent many a Saturday browsing through my favorite stores and stopping at Sbarro in the food court for lunch.

Having close ties to the area, my heart, thoughts, and prayers goes out to everyone involved. I pray for fast recoveries for those who were hurt physically and peace of mind for those who were hurt emotionally. A friend was at the mall with her boyfriend and they left not 45 minutes before this tragedy occurred. I found out later that a classmate from high school was in the mall during the lockdown. I have relatives from St. Cloud whose friends were in the mall and it could've easily have been my loved ones in danger.

Bumming around the mall has been a common pastime for families, friends, and loved ones. No one in Minnesota has ever felt unsafe being at the mall. I cannot even begin to imagine the terror the people inside felt when they heard gunshots go off. Parents with their kids at the kiddie playground area in the mall terrified and worried about getting their little ones to safety. "All of a sudden I heard pop, pop, pop," Harley Exsted told the St. Cloud Times. "I thought someone tipped over a shelf. All of a sudden these people started running. I just saw everybody running our way." Roxanne Samuels is the manager of Clinique in Macy's and texted her husband who was outside the mall that she and a customer were hiding under a counter. “I went closer to the mall entrance by J.C. Penney’s and I was looking at some jeans and all the sudden people were just running in chaos,” worker Ashley Bayne told WCCO. “They were screaming, ‘Someone’s stabbing people in the mall,’ and people were just really frantic and were running.”

The gravity of the situation hits like a bag of bricks. I have lived in Minnesota since the day I was born and nothing terribly, extremely horrendous has ever happened in my state. I have always felt for people in other parts of the world when these types of incidents happened but they never directly impacted me. My heart went out to those in New York and I felt for those who lost loved ones. Hearing about this attack in my home state—my happy little bubble of security has been shattered. The Muslim community as a whole is once again painted in a dark light because of the actions of an individual. The actions of those individuals who are screaming louder drown out the shouts of those who condemn these kind of atrocities.

To the Muslim community: I pray for you and know that you are a kind people who do not condone this attack. I am sorry we live in a world where the actions of an individual reflect on the entire community as a whole. I choose to see that Muslims are a good people and that this one attacker will not make me think any less of Muslims.

To the rest of the world: Please remember this was an individual acting by himself. Keep those affected in your thoughts and prayers. Love those around you and do not be quick to judge. We need to stand united against these acts of terror and not start debating about who knows best or "this wouldn't have happened if...". We need to rally around those affected and show our unbreakable spirit to those who wish harm.

To the off-duty officer: Thank you for preventing the attacker from hurting any more people. Thank you for protecting your community and stepping up in the face of danger. Thank you for not putting race, religion, or ethnicity before the lives of innocent people and protecting people from all types of backgrounds.

Sincerely,

A girl from small town Minnesota