Last week, following a traffic stop in normally peaceful Fargo, ND, a gunman opened fire on police officers, killing one officer and wounding two others, along with a bystander. What the media coverage isn’t telling you is anything about the background of the shooter, one Mohamad Barakat.
Barakat had been studying mass casualty events for several years, and most recently was researching local events happening in the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo and surrounding areas.
One of his research subjects was a failed car-bombing attempt in Times Square in 2010. The placement of the fuel cans in Barakat’s car presents an uncanny resemblance to the car bomb in that failed attempt.
Officials say he is a Syrian national who came to the United States in 2012. Barakat became a U.S. citizen in 2019. Investigators say it appears Barakat was working off and on at different jobs, and over the years he has been researching mass casualty events and collecting weaponry. His name appeared on what officials call a “Guardian Report,” but they clarified the tip received was not about a threat of violence.
The gunman who ambushed three Fargo, North Dakota, police officers in an unprovoked attack Friday had an arsenal that included 1,800 rounds of ammunition and a homemade hand grenade, the state attorney general said Wednesday.
Mohamad Barakat, 37, “absolutely ambushed” the officers, firing a .223-caliber rifle from inside his vehicle Friday as police were responding to a car accident, Attorney General Drew Wrigley said.
One officer, Jake Wallin, 23, was killed and two others were shot and wounded. Barakat was shot and killed by Police Officer Zach Robinson, officials said.
Barakat also shot a woman who was standing on the street after the unrelated car accident. She was struck twice as she ran from the gunfire, Wrigley said.
“In the wake of Mohamad Barakat’s murderous, unprovoked attack, Officer Zach Robinson’s use of deadly force was reasonable, it was necessary, it was justified, and in all ways it was lawful,” he said.
This isn’t the first time an immigrant, for unknown reasons, has turned out to be violent. But it’s not at all clear – yet – what Mr. Barakat’s motivation was – at least not with the information we have on him at this point. The legacy media outlets, however, at the time of the event seemed decidedly incurious.
Several local media outlets covered the story at the time, always with the argument of, of course, banning guns in America storyline.
ABC News covered the story under the tag “Guns in America.”
It is certain, as we see from the ABC coverage, that this will be spun as an argument for another ill-advised “Assault Weapon” ban based on Barakat’s possession of three semi-auto rifles; grenades are already illegal, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped Barakat from possessing one, presumably home-made.

More at the link, also video clips:
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2023/07/21/mohamad-barakat-serious-omissions-by-legacy-media-n780004