ND Bureau of Criminal Investigations photo of ammunition and weapons recovered from Mohamad Barakat's car after the July 14 mass shooting.
FARGO (KFGO) – Previously sealed federal search warrant applications for the residence and garage of the man who ambushed Fargo Police officers last summer, fatally shooting one and seriously injuring two others, provide new detail about the investigation. The documents, unsealed Friday, include the report of an interaction of the Cass County Sheriff’s Office with Mohamad Barakat just weeks prior to the July 14 incident.
Barakat shot and killed Fargo Police Officer Jake Wallin and seriously wounded Officers Andrew Dotas and Tyler Hawes along with Karlee Koswick, a woman who was on scene after being involved in a minor car crash. The officers were on-scene on 25th St. and 9th Ave. S. to investigate that crash when Barakat ambushed them.
Two previous local law enforcement engagements with Barakat are cited in the warrant applications, which refer the July 14 incident as a “mass shooting” throughout.
One was the FBI National Threat Operations Center tip from a woman in Minnesota who worried Barakat might become a mass shooter which led to a Metro Street Crimes unit visit to Barakat’s apartment in July of 2021.
The second happened May 4, 2023, when the Cass County Wildlife Club alerted the Cass County Sheriff’s Office that Barakat had been using Tannerite, a binary explosive, at the club’s gun range. Barakat was removed from the property and later told deputies that he was stockpiling Tannerite for personal use.
The warrant application for a unit in an apartment building located at 2801 23rd Ave S. says a FPD K9 alerted at Barakat’s residence, unit #305, sniffing and “bracketing” at the apartment’s door knob and seams, indicating the detection of explosives.
The second application, for Barakat’s garage filed two days after the search of his home, says law enforcement found three long guns and one pistol in Barakat’s apartment, as well as an extensive cache of ammunition for various caliber firearms. Investigators also found hobby fuses used to create delays in the firing of explosive devices and a modified rifle trigger similar to the binary trigger Barakat used to shoot the Fargo officers.
The garage warrant application says the Red River Valley Bomb Squad safely exploded a modified grenade and two propane tanks found in Barakat’s car and that the detonation had created significant blast zones with large amounts of scattered shrapnel. Prior to the blast, an x-ray of the propane tanks showed what bomb technicians called a “powder line,” and appeared to be filled with a granular solid material rather than liquid propane.
The warrant applications detail items observed at the shooting scene, including a North Dakota College of Science student ID and ND driver’s license on the ground outside of Barakat’s car, both in his name. Besides the AR-15 style rifle and two pistols Barakat used during the shooting, two additional AR-15 style rifles were found inside the car and six pistol magazines filled with ammunition located in or near the car. The car also contained three containers for gasoline or propane, two of which were mostly full with what appeared to be gasoline. Inside a suitcase found near the car’s trunk, there was an additional pistol as well as multiple additional rifle magazines, a black tactical vest, and a container labeled Tannerite.
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