Next to a mosque. In a neighborhood “where Islamic terrorists congregate”. Coinciding with New Year’s Day bombings in the motherland of this Muslim diaspora. Nothing to investigate here (not after most of the evidence has been hauled away).
Two federal agencies are now assisting in the investigation of the fatal Cedar-Riverside explosion and fire that happened on New Year’s Day. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are now involved in the investigation.
One person is dead, at least one person is unaccounted for and fourteen people have been hospitalized after the building explosion and fire in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Fire crews responded to the report of the explosion around 8 a.m. on the 500 block of Cedar Avenue.
A victim’s body was found in the structure on Cedar Avenue Thursday afternoon and has been turned over to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office. One of the 14 hospitalized victims has not been identified.
It is fairly routine for the ATF to help in a case like this, especially because of the size of the incident, the death of at least one person, and the location of a nearby mosque.
The ATF has forensic experts that will assist local investigators in determining the cause of the blast and fire. Right now, investigators are leaning toward a natural gas problem but have not confirmed that yet.
If it is not a natural occurrence, or accident, the FBI is interested in knowing what people might be connected to the explosion and subsequent fire.
St. Paul Fire Department Investigator Jamie Novak tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, “It is a little bit unusual for the FBI to arrive at the scene of a fire, but given where this happened, so close to a mosque, it makes sense for them to investigate everything connected to it so they can rule out criminal activity.”
“This blast has similar characteristics to a natural gas explosion, and I am sure that is where the investigation is centered right now,” Novak said.
One high-level law enforcement official tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the head of the FBI Office in Minnesota has contacted local authorities and told them that, right now, there does not appear to be any suspicious, or nefarious, behavior connected to the explosion and fire.
That same law enforcement official says the FBI is checking the backgrounds of the people who live in the apartments, the property owners, and others connected to those people to rule out the possibility of criminal intent. But, that same official says that is just a preliminary finding and things could change “in a day, a week or several weeks.”
Gates of Vienna asks some pertinent questions in Applying Occam’s Razor.