Somali Youth in Minneapolis Respond to Claims Somali-Americans Are Involved in Nairobi Mall Attack

Identity of the attackers yet to be confirmed

MINNEAPOLIS — "Why are you even here? There is no reason. Just negative bullshit!"

The teenager was surrounded by more than a dozen other young Somali men and women, his voice raised with the confidence of having a crowd behind him, engaged in a lopsided argument with a cable news crew.

The crew had been working around Currie Park in Minneapolis' predominantly Somali neighborhood of Cedar-Riverside since Monday morning, collecting footage and interviewing passersby about unconfirmed reports that two Minnesota Somali men were part of al-Shabaab's ongoing deadly mall siege in Nairobi, Kenya. But by Monday evening, the crew had overstayed its welcome.