(AP) The heavily armed man who killed one Fargo police officer and wounded two as they were investigating a traffic stop earlier this month had been interviewed about his guns in 2021 after the FBI received a tip, but it was determined he had done nothing illegal and no further action was taken, authorities said Thursday.
In a statement in response to questions from the Associated Press, the FBI and Fargo Police Department said the FBI received an anonymous tip about Mohamad Barakat in July 2021 in which the tipster expressed concern about Barakat’s mental state, saying he had access to a “significant number of firearms” and had used threatening language.
The FBI forwarded the information to the Fargo Police Department. The statement says Fargo detectives made three visits to Barakat’s apartment over a two-week period. They didn’t make contact with him until the third visit, in which they observed several firearms in the apartment, but none were illegal, the statement said.
