Security has been tightened overnight in some of Canada’s malls, most notably the West Edmonton Mall, owned by the Ghermezian brothers, following the Somalian Al-Shabaab terror group’s video threat urging followers to attack those locations.
The Ghermezian Jewish-Iranian-Canadian family has developed some of the world’s largest shopping malls, including the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta.
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The family patriarch, Jacob Ghermezian, passed away in 2000, leaving the business in the hands of his four sons, Eskandar, Nader, Raphael and Bahman, who grew it into a real estate and construction empire.
Shopping centers in the U.S. and U.K. were likewise highlighted in the video.
CTV News reported that Edmonton Deputy Police Chief Brian Simpson assured the public that “West Edmonton mall is very safe, I also feel that this community is very safe.”
Simpson added that it is important Canadians not give in to the feelings of terror, which is what al-Shabab wanted to create in the first place.
“We need to do our day-to-day business, ” Simpson said. “That’s how we effectively deal with this. We don’t give them more power than they deserve, ” and quite frankly they don’t deserve any power because they are terrorists.”
Edmonton police is asking people to inform authorities when they see individuals who are “demonstrating radicalized behavior.”
